"The chances are one in a billion to have two anthrax cases. There then would be another explanation, and that would be that foul play would be suspected."

[Associated Press - 9 October - BOCA RATON, Fla.] - Federal officials suspect foul play rather than an environmental source is at the root of two Florida anthrax cases that have left one man dead and hundreds of co-workers lining up for medical tests.

The FBI on Monday sealed off the Boca Raton offices of American Media Inc., where both men worked, and agents donned protective gear before going inside.

How the bacterium got into the newspaper's office remained unknown. But federal investigators have eliminated the obvious environmental sources of anthrax, said Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

In Washington, D.C., Florida Sen. Bob Graham met with CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan on Monday. "I asked Dr. Koplan what would be the likelihood that such a disease could have occurred without human intervention. His words were, `Nil to none,"' Graham said.

And Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday the case could become "a clear criminal investigation."

"We don't have enough information to know whether this could be related to terrorism or not," he said during a news conference in Washington, D.C. The concern raised by the death Friday of Sun photography editor Bob Stevens intensified after anthrax was found in the nose of a second employee and on an office computer keyboard. More than 500 people waited for hours to be tested and receive antibiotics, but said the hassle was worth it for the peace of mind.

"I may be able to sleep better tonight because I've gotten a head start," said Joanie Cox, 21, a free-lance writer for The Star tabloid. "I just want everybody to be safe."

Dr. Landis Crockett, director of disease control for the Florida Department of Health, said it was unusual to have two anthrax cases in such close proximity. He said human intervention may be responsible for the infections.

"The chances are one in a billion to have two anthrax cases," he said. "There then would be another explanation, and that would be that foul play would be suspected."

Anthrax cannot be spread from person to person, but all 300 people who work in the building -- and anyone who spent more than an hour inside since Aug. 1 -- were advised to visit health officials.

The second anthrax exposure involved a mailroom employee identified by co-workers as 73-year-old Ernesto Blanco. Officials said he had anthrax bacteria in his nasal passages, but he has not been diagnosed with the disease.

Blanco was tested for anthrax because he happened to be in a Miami-area hospital for what co-workers said was an unrelated heart problem. He was in stable condition, authorities said.

A third American Media employee, librarian Martha Moffett, originally tested negative for anthrax, but was called back Monday to undergo a second test for the disease, The Miami Herald reported in Tuesday's editions.

Elsewhere, a Virginia doctor downplayed what had been described as a possible anthrax case there with connections to the Florida cases. "I just want to allay everybody's anxiety about this case because it just doesn't seem to fit the criteria," Dr. Thomas Ryan of Prince William Hospital in Manassas, Va. said during a news conference early Tuesday.

On Monday, the hospital had contacted Virginia's health department with a possible anthrax diagnosis, "one of several possible diagnoses" for the victim, whose name was not released, M. Boyd Marcus, Gov. Jim Gilmore's chief of staff, said earlier. The state government was told that the Virginia patient had either worked for or been a contractor for the company where Stevens and Blanco worked, Marcus said.

But Ryan said doctors at the hospital now do not believe the patient has anthrax. Lab tests performed on the patient have been negative thus far, he said. Only 18 cases of inhalation anthrax were reported in the United States during the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. More common is a less serious form of anthrax contracted through the skin.

Antibiotics can treat anthrax, although the rare, inhalation form that killed Stevens, 63, is particularly lethal. Untreated, 90 percent of victims die within days. Anthrax can be contracted from farm animals or soil, but the bacterium is not normally found among the wildlife or livestock in Florida. Stevens was described as an avid outdoorsman and gardener. The anthrax bacterium normally has an incubation period of up to seven days, but could take up to 60 days to develop.

State epidemiologist Dr. Steven Wiersma said tests will help determine whether the anthrax found in Blanco was natural or genetically engineered. Health officials have said the bacteria in Stevens' blood responded to antibiotics, indicating that it was natural.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have raised fears of bioterrorism across the country, and focused particular concern on the origin of the anthrax here.

Stevens lived about a mile from an air strip where flight school owner Marian Smith said suspected hijacker Mohamed Atta rented planes. Several suspected hijackers also visited a crop-dusting business in Belle Glade, 40 miles from Stevens' home in Lantana.

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Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/10/451.htm