Two New Anthrax Cases in N.Y., N.J.

ByABC News
October 12, 2001, 12:02 PM

Oct. 20 -- Authorities in New Jersey have pinpointed the mail sorting box from which anthrax-laced letters were sent to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

MORE ANTHRAX-RELATED NEWS:

Feds Canvas N.J. Postal Route

N.Y., D.C., Fla. Strains 'Indistinguishable'

Anthrax Q & A

"The FBI has been able to identify the site where the letters were mailed," Tom Ridge, director of the White House Office of Homeland Security, told reporters.

Sources said tests of the mail sorting box were under way and there has been some suggestion that mail boxes on the street in at least one route in New Jersey may be removed. Determining which sorting box the letters were in may give authorities hints as to where the letters were sent from. Investigators were scouring a postal route of one New Jersey letter carrier diagnosed with anthrax in an effort to pinpoint where and when two anthrax-laced letters postmarked in Trenton were mailed.

President Bush in his weekly radio address today said investigators have no evidence linking the anthrax-laced envelopes to the al Qaeda network, whom the U.S. has blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We do know that anyone who deliberately delivers anthrax is engaged in a crime and an act of terror, a hateful attempt to harm innocent people and frighten citizens," said Bush, who was in China attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. "These attacks once again reveal the evil at the heart of terrorism, the evil we must fight."

Third Postal Worker Tests Positive

A third postal worker in Trenton, N.J. tested positive for anthrax, pushing the number of known cases in the country to nine, including a New York Post employee.

Investigators believe the strains found in New York, Florida and Washington appear to have come from the same batch.

"[O]ne of our employees has tested positive for cutaneous anthrax," the Post said in a statement, referring to the highly treatable skin form of the disease.