Postal worker contracts rare anthrax type

WASHINGTON -- A District of Columbia postal worker is "gravely ill" from inhalation anthrax, a rare and lethal form of the disease, officials said Sunday, and five others are sick with suspicious symptoms. The Postal Service closed two facilities and began testing more than 2,200 workers for exposure. \nThe diagnosed man, who was not identified, is the third person in the nation to come down with the most serious form of the disease, where anthrax spores enter the respiratory system and lodge deep in the lungs. Six others, including two postal workers in New Jersey, have been infected with a highly treatable form that is contracted through the skin. \nMayor Anthony Williams said the latest victim, the first in Washington to contract the disease, was "gravely ill." He was listed in serious but stable condition at a suburban Virginia hospital near his home. \nFive other people, including at least one postal worker have symptoms that are consistent with anthrax and health officials are awaiting the results of testing to determine if they actually have the disease, said Dr. Ivan Walks, the city's chief medical officer. \nAll five are hospitalized and receiving treatment, four in Washington and one in suburban Virginia. \nWalks said he believed that all five of them had the flu-like symptoms that can be an indication of inhalation anthrax. He said authorities might know as early as Monday morning if any of them are infected with the potentially deadly bacterium, But he added that anthrax will not be able to be ruled out for at least three days. \nAs postal workers lined up for testing in Washington, the number of people directly affected -- although not sickened -- by the anthrax-by-letter scare reached well above 5,000 just in the nation's capital. Investigators focused on Trenton, N.J., where some of the tainted letters were mailed. \nMeantime, congressional leaders said they would reopen the Capitol on Monday, though House and Senate office buildings will remain closed until results from environmental testing are complete. \nSurgeon General David Satcher said inhalation anthrax -- which is not contagious -- has been fatal about 80 percent of the time. "But that's in the past. We have different technology today," he said on CNN's "Late Edition. "It is not yet hopeless." \nIt was unclear how ill the man was Sunday, though a postal official said he was alert enough to watch the Washington Redskins game on TV. \nHealth investigators moved quickly to determine whether anthrax was present in either of two postal facilities where the man worked and whether other employees might have been exposed. \nMore than 2,100 workers at Washington's main mail processing center and 150 at an air mail handling center near Baltimore-Washington International Airport were asked to report for nasal swab testing, which will help determine where in the buildings exposure may have occurred. Employees will each be given a 10-day supply of antibiotics to ward off infection in case they were exposed. \nThe testing began at City Hall on Sunday, an hour after officials confirmed the diagnosis. By 10 p.m. more than 1,000 had been tested. It was to continue Monday at D.C. General Hospital.