Possible anthrax scare at Washington mall
The US Postal Service closed its government mail offices in Washington while tests were carried out to determine whether anthrax was detected at the Navy site that handles letters and parcels for federal agencies.
Postal Service spokesman Azeezaly Jaffer said the V Street premises, at which 270 employees work, was closed as a precaution last night.
Equipment which routinely monitors the air at the Naval Automated Processing Facility, also in the District of Columbia, indicated the presence of “small amounts of biological pathogens, possibly anthrax”, said Rachael Sunbarger, a Homeland Security spokeswoman.
That facility receives mail from V Street.
After the initial field test, eight air samples were sent to Fort Detrick, Maryland, for testing, according to Lieutenant Commander Edward Zeigler, spokesman for the Naval District of Washington. One sample tested positive for anthrax and seven tested negative, he said.
As a result, more testing was being done, he said.
A Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, Cmdr Conrad Chun, said the Fort Detrick test showed a spore count of 138. Someone would have to breathe 8,000 to 10,000 spores to become infected by anthrax, according to the federal Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
A contractor, Shaw Inc., participated in the testing.
There were no illnesses reported, Sunbarger said. Authorities said no one was given any antibiotics.
Only a few people work at the automated naval site. Chun said the workers wear protective clothing and that an air monitor worked as designed. Mail is screened there before going to a mail-handling facility nearby, he said. The facility also handles mail distributed to Navy personnel throughout the Washington area.
Chun said the matter is being further investigated by the FBI, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, postal inspectors and others.
All mail destined for Congress and federal agencies is irradiated before being delivered to the postal facilities.
Later, the Postal Service said it had closed a total of 11 post offices in the Washington area.
Authorities decided “out of an abundance of caution” to close the facilities and test them for any biohazard contamination, Jaffer said.
There was no indication any of 1,200 to 1,500 postal workers involved were exposed to anthrax, Jaffer said.
