Postal Worker Had Anthrax Fears Before Death
Nov. 7, 2001 -- Hours before he died from inhaled anthrax, a postal worker whose bosses and doctor told him he was safe called 911 to tell an operator he was worried and needed an ambulance.
MORE ANTHRAX-RELATED NEWS:
• Letter Sent to Pakistan Tests Negative• FBI Still Clueless
• Anthrax Hits U.S. Consulate in Russia
Thomas Morris Jr. worked at the Brentwood postal facility, which handled the anthrax-laced letter that was opened in Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office on Capitol Hill Oct. 15, prompting officials to immediately treat Senate staffers with antibiotics. Morris died inhalation anthrax on the evening of Oct. 21
Today, Maryland police released a transcript if Morris' call for help to a 911 operator that he made about 16 hours before his death.
"I suspect that I might have been exposed to anthrax," Morris said, his breathing noticeably labored. "It was last … Saturday — a week ago — last Saturday morning at work. I work for the postal service. I've been to the doctor, went to the doctor Thursday. He took a culture, but he never got back to me with the results. … Now, I'm having difficulty breathing and just to move any distance, I feel like I'm going to pass out."
Morris said he was near a woman at the Brentwood post office who found an envelope that contained powder. Morris said officials told the powder was not anthrax, but he complained that they never tested people who were in the vicinity for exposure, or treated them with antibiotics. He was concerned because he believed he was showing clear symptoms of an anthrax infection.
"The symptoms that I've had was described to me in a letter that they put out almost to the T, except that I haven't had any vomiting until just a few minutes ago," Morris said. "I'm not bleeding, and I don't have diarrhea, but the doctor thought it was just a virus or something. … So we went with that, and I was taking Tylenol for the achiness. But the shortness of breath now, I don't know — that's consistent with the, with the anthrax."
The postal service confirmed today that the letter Morris referred to did test negative for anthrax. It remains a mystery how he was infected. At a press briefing this afternoon, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and Special Assistant for Bioterrorism Scott Lillibridge said they had no knowledge of Morris' 911 tape and had no information about the postal service testing of the letters the deceased postal worker mentioned in his call. They said they would be check with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information.
The Brentwood postal facility processed the letter sent to Daschle's office and mail sent to the post office inside the Pentagon, which was decontaminated over the weekend after anthrax was discovered in two areas. Officials said Tuesday there is no sign that the spores detected in the Pentagon post office have spread to other parts of the building.
The mailroom of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington also receives mail from the Brentwood facility and has tested positive for trace amounts of anthrax.
Cross-contaminated letters processed at the Brentwood facility are believed to be the source of contamination of some 20 government and Postal Service buildings where the bacterium has been detected.
See a timeline of the anthrax attacks and the investigation.
Letter Sent to Pakistan Tests Negative
A suspicious letter mailed to the U.S. consulate in Lahore, Pakistan, was declared free of anthrax as New York investigators tried to trace the source of the deadly spores by using the subway card of a hospital worker who died of inhalation anthrax.
A day after preliminary tests conducted on a white powder contained in the letter to Lahore tested positive for anthrax, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer today said laboratory tests conducted overnight in the United States had concluded the letter was not contaminated.
"I can confirm that it was negative for anthrax," Fleischer told reporters in Washington. "The lab test is conclusive."
The letter was received at the consulate Oct. 31 in the public local mail, sparking widespread concern as it was the first contaminated letter received at a U.S. diplomatic post abroad that had not come in a diplomatic pouch from the United States.
White powder found in a letter mailed to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad last week proved negative for anthrax.
Today's announcement came as investigators told reporters they were using the subway card of New York City hospital worker Kathy Nguyen to trace her steps during the last two weeks of her life before she died on Oct. 31.
"We know what days she was at work; we know what hours she worked; we've seen phone records, of course. But absent those items, there's very little for us to go on," said police Deputy Chief Joseph Reznick, a member of the Joint Terrorist Task Force.
While investigators say they are open to several theories of how Nguyen had to come in contact with what they believe was a large quantity of airborne spores, they admit that clues are scarce.
See a timeline of the anthrax attacks and the investigation.
Still Clueless
FBI officials still do not know the source of the deadly bacteria.
In a hearing before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday, FBI Deputy Assistant Director James Caruso admitted the FBI did not know how many people may have had access to anthrax and did not know which labs nationwide could produce anthrax of the quality sent to Daschle's office and used in other attacks.
James Reynolds, the Justice Department's chief of terrorism and violent crime, said FBI and Justice Department officials are overwhelmed with false anthrax reports and hoaxes. However, they feel compelled to investigate all potential cases and leads.
"They are presently out of control," Reynolds said. "We very much need a hoax statute to assist these cases. … There are cases that we simply cannot bring based on the lack of a hoax statute.
The FBI says it is pursuing more than 1,000 leads, including at least 100 that have taken investigators overseas. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information is considering legislation by Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to tighten regulation of the use of dangerous germs, fungi and toxins that could be used as biological weapons. At Tuesday's hearing, Feinstein said the investigation into the anthrax scares have been handled with "intense sloppiness."
Anthrax Hits U.S. Consulate in Russia
The worldwide anthrax scare spread to Russia on Tuesday when a U.S. Consulate in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg confirmed it had received mail from Washington containing traces of anthrax. Consular officials said the mailbag was received on Oct. 19 and tested on Oct. 25 after the State Department notified them that an employee in its mail-handling facility in Virginia had contracted anthrax.
Consular officials said the mailbag was received on Oct. 19 and tested on Oct. 25 after the State Department notified them that an employee in its mail-handling facility in Virginia had contracted anthrax.
Consulate officials said no one has contracted anthrax and one employee is on the antibiotic Cipro as a precautionary measure.
The consulate said that since the spores had only shown up in a second test, the amount of anthrax in the bag was likely to be negligible. Traces of anthrax have been found in two State Department mailrooms and in mail sent to U.S. embassies in Peru and Lithuania.