NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, October 30, 2001

If confirmed, she would become the first person in New York City to contract inhalation anthrax, the most dangerous form of the disease. Four people have been diagnosed with cutaneous, or skin, anthrax. "The assumption is that it is anthrax," Giuliani said.

The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, worked in a stockroom near the mailroom of the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. She was not known to deal with mail.

She is on a respirator and listed in "very serious condition" at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. Both facilities are in the borough's Upper East Side.

According to Giuliani, the woman began having possible symptoms Thursday and that she sought medical help at the hospital Sunday when she was in "severe respiratory distress." The source of the anthrax is not known.

Two unions representing New York City postal workers filed suit Monday in Manhattan federal court claiming that the federal government failed to dispose of hazardous waste after anthrax spores were found on four mail sorting machines.

"We're asking for a bit of caution," said Louie Nikolaidis, a lawyer for the union. "We're asking for any facility that's tested positive to be shut down."

New York Metro Area Postal Union and American Postal Workers Union sought an injunction to keep any mail facility that was found to contain anthrax spores closed until it can be tested and found free of anthrax.

Anthrax spores were found on four sorting machines at the Morgan Processing and Distribution Center in Manhattan which processes the 20 million pieces of mail for Manhattan and the Bronx each day.

Postal authorities have kept the facility open but cordoned off four sorting machines plus 30 surrounding machines on the third floor where the anthrax spores were found.

No New York City postal worker has tested positive for anthrax but thousands have had the antibiotic Cipro made available to them. The Centers for Disease Control said Monday that that at least 12 New York area postal workers have been referred to dermatologists for suspicious skin infections since last Thursday.

Will Smith, president of the New York Metro Area Postal Union, said it was "unfair that the Supreme Court in Washington was closed after anthrax spores were found in its mail system but workers at Morgan have to remain at the job."

Smith recommended his members stay away from work until the building is proven safe and about 30 percent of the employees Monday took him up on it. According to postal authorities, regular absenteeism is about 7 percent a day.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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