State: Hoaxes cause biowar scares around U.S.

[Times photo: Jennifer Davis]
Firefighters and guards cover St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler's desk with plastic after he received an envelope with a substance like salt or sugar.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD

In Naples, bankers and lawyers were stripped and hosed down in parking lots.

Near Melbourne, workers in biohazard suits escorted a sick man from his home.

And in St. Petersburg, a newspaper columnist's desk was wrapped in plastic.

In each case, the people had received envelopes or packages in the mail containing a mysterious white powder.

These packages and others like them triggered bioterrorism scares in Florida and around the country Tuesday after anthrax bacteria were discovered at the Boca Raton headquarters of a supermarket tabloid publisher.

The cases reported Tuesday appeared to be hoaxes or false alarms. Initial laboratory tests found nothing toxic in any of the powdery substances in the packages. Further tests are being conducted.

Health officials, bracing for an onslaught of more hoaxes, are appealing for calm and common sense. They think attacks are unlikely because anthrax is difficult to obtain and extremely dangerous to handle.

"You could do more good going to get a flu shot, which saves 10,000 or more lives a year, than to panic every time somebody thinks there's a powder out there," said Dr. Phil Amuso, director of the state Department of Health's regional lab in Tampa, one of three in Florida that routinely test for anthrax and other potential bioterrorism agents.

"We have to be rational about this," Amuso said.

Still, fears of chemical or biological terrorism have never been higher.

"I could probably drop a package of Sweet'n Low and evacuate this building," said Collier County emergency management director Ken Pineau.

Worries about anthrax built after an employee of American Media Inc., a Boca Raton company that publishes six newspaper tabloids, died of the disease, and anthrax bacteria were found in the nasal passages of another. Authorities suspect foul play.

The FBI is investigating reports that a week before the Sept. 11 attacks the tabloid office received a letter containing a "soapy, powdery substance."

In recent days, anonymously mailed envelopes packed with white powder have arrived at a handful of homes and offices around Florida. All were probably the harmless product of sick jokes, state and federal officials said.

"Currently, there is no evidence to indicate that these events are acts of terrorism," said Robert Chiaradio, agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa office.

St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler opened a letter at his desk Tuesday that contained a cryptic handwritten note and a substance resembling salt or sugar.

Authorities were called to the newspaper's offices in downtown St. Petersburg. Police put the envelope in an airtight container and drove it to a state health lab in Tampa for analysis. Firefighters covered Troxler's desk with a plastic sheet and yellow emergency-scene tape reading "caution."

Newspaper staffers went about their business.

"I'm sure it's nothing, but the Fire Department says that in an abundance of caution, they're going through all of their procedures," Troxler said. "If nothing else, it's a good test."

Lab analysts using a microscope found no signs of anthrax or bacteria in the powder. Results of further tests should be available today.

Local authorities have had no other cases like that one. But the Pinellas County Health Department has received about 200 phone calls from people worried about anthrax, said epidemiology program manager Julia Gill.

Elsewhere in Florida, anthrax scares directly affected scores of people.

In Naples, 75 workers were detained in two buildings Tuesday after employees at a bank and a law firm found white powder covering mail that had been delivered by a private courier service.

Dozens of workers had to strip down and get hosed off by firefighters. Emergency workers held up tarps, set up tents and handed out blue hospital gowns to protect their privacy.

The mail was flown to an FBI lab in Tampa, where preliminary tests found nothing hazardous.

In Broward and Miami-Dade counties, at least three families and 10 firefighters were temporarily quarantined in recent days after white powder was found in mysterious mailed envelopes. Again, lab tests found no danger.

In Sarasota on Tuesday, at least six country club employees were taken to a hospital as a precaution because they were exposed to an unknown substance after opening a letter from Brunei, police said.

Near Melbourne, a sick man was escorted from his home by workers in biohazard suits after he said he had received a package two months ago containing a powder. He was released from a hospital after doctors found a routine upper-respiratory infection.

Scares erupted around the country Tuesday.

In Washington, an apparently unstable man shut down a main subway line when he fired a gun, scuffled with a police officer and sprayed a liquid later identified as a cleaning fluid, Resolve.

In Covington, Ky., about 1,000 people were "locked down" inside an IRS center when a white powder was found in the mail room. In Lincoln, Neb., a box labeled "anthrax" was found in a mall.

John Agwunobi, secretary of the Florida Department of Health, told state lawmakers Tuesday to expect further threats and false alarms.

"We fully expect ... there will be an increased number of people who turn up in emergency rooms who are thought to have anthrax," Agwunobi said. "And we will treat each hoax as if it is real."

-- Times staff writers Wes Allison, Leanora Minai and Alisa Ulferts contributed to this report, which contains information from the Associated Press.

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