Anthrax found at Justice Dept. mail facility

WASHINGTON, OCT. 29. Anthrax has been discovered at an offsite mail facility for the Department of Justice, said a Justice Department statement. ``Today, the Department of Justice was informed by the FBI Hazmat unit at Quantico that final test results show the department's offsite mail facility in Landover, Maryland tested positive for anthrax,'' said the statement.

``Areas which specifically handle mail for the main justice building, including the attorney general's office and other leadership offices, were among those that tested positive,'' the statement added.

It was the latest contamination discovered in Washington after traces of the potentially fatal bacteria turned up in remote mail facilities that serve the White House, the State Department, the Supreme Court and the CIA.

Anthrax has killed three people and infected at least 11 others in the U.S. Thousands of people have been tested or treated for the rare disease since the Sept. 11 air attacks on the U.S.

Postal worker in hospital

Meanwhile, a worker at a New Jersey postal facility contaminated by anthrax has been diagnosed with the deadly disease, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The worker from the Hamilton mail processing center near the city of Trenton, who previously was suspected of having inhalation anthrax, has been hospitalised and was recovering, said a CDC spokeswoman yesterday.

- AFP, Reuters

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Section  : International
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