Anthrax triggers panic

NEW YORK, OCT. 13. Reports of a fourth anthrax case in the United States since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks sent New Yorkers scurrying to hospitals, intensifying fears about bioterrorism in a city and nation already on edge.

The New York Mayor, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, announced on Saturday that a second threatening letter sent to the NBC news anchor, Mr. Tom Brokaw, contained the anthrax that infected his assistant.

The letter, postmarked Sept. 18 in Trenton, New Jersey, tested positive for anthrax. Initially, authorities believed a Sept. 20 letter sent from Florida might have carried the anthrax.

The NBC employee, Ms. Erin O'Connor, contracted the skin form of anthrax after opening a ``threatening'' letter on Sept. 25 addressed to Mr. Brokaw that contained a powder. Ms. O'Connor noticed a dark-coloured lesion three days after the letter was received; on Oct. 1, she began taking the antibiotic Cipro. When the lesion started developing characteristics of anthrax, ``a very alert and astute clinician'' ordered skin tests. Officials said they expected Ms. O'Connor to recover quickly.

They stressed it was an isolated case and there was no cause for alarm. They also said there was no known link to the far more serious inhaled form of anthrax that killed an editor at a supermarket tabloid in Florida last week.

Panic spread to other areas as well, with people reporting suspicious packages from coast to coast.

U.S. officials have so far played down a link to terrorism, but the Vice-President, Mr. Dick Cheney, expressed scepticism on Friday that there was no relation. ``The only responsible thing for us to do is proceed on the basis that it could be linked,'' he told PBS.

- AP

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