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Anthrax facts: Safety and mail cleanup
©Washington Post, Q. With discoveries of anthrax spores at new locations, is it more likely that some will turn up on ordinary mail and in our homes? A. Patrick J. Meehan, director of emergency environmental services with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday that authorities believe that people who receive mail in the Washington area are "essentially at no risk of inhalation anthrax," meaning that there would not be enough spores on any piece of mail to contract the deadly form of the disease. He said that if a letter had a few spores on it, which he called "a remote possibility," those people "may have a very, very small risk of cutaneous-type anthrax," which is highly treatable with antibiotics. Q. Should people do anything differently with their mail? A. Federal and public health officials say people should not try to decontaminate mail on their own. If they suspect something in a piece of mail, they should isolate it, wash their hands with hot water and soap and call the police. Ironing, microwaving or bleaching mail at home is not advised by the CDC. Q. There have been a number of off-site facilities, such as the State Department and the Supreme Court, where anthrax spores have just been found. What is going on? A. Nobody is sure, but Meehan and Tom Ridge, director of the Office of Homeland Security, said authorities believe that cross-contamination is probably the reason, in most cases. That means that mail processed at the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, D.C., may have been contaminated by a letter sent to the office of Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle when it was at that same facility. Because nobody knows, however, it is possible that there are other contaminated letters in the system that have not been detected, officials say. Q. Many people are not receiving mail on time as a result of anthrax scares, which means that they may be late paying credit card bills. Will they be charged late fees? A. Credit card companies, such as Visa, said that the decision will be made by the individual banks that issue cards. Bank of America is typical among banks in saying that it will not charge fees for payments that are late because of a delay in mail service. People who have concerns can call the customer service numbers on their bills and arrange to make payments electronically, over the phone or another manner. Q. After anthrax has been discovered, how do experts know when a surface or a whole building is decontaminated? A. According to Versar Inc., an engineering company in Springfield, Va., the best way to know is by planting spores similar to anthrax in inaccessible spots in a building before the decontamination process. Afterward, the spores, called Bacillus globuli, are checked. If they are dead workers can leave with "pretty good confidence" that the rest are gone. But biological agents are tricky, and certainty is not possible. Fred Stroud, of the Environmental Protection Agency, who is leading the cleanup effort of the American Media Inc. building in Boca Raton, said another way is by sampling surfaces and air inside a building after decontamination. He said that officials have used a bleach solution to decontaminate several post offices where anthrax spores were found. Then they go in and take more samples to ensure that the place is clean, using leaf blowers to stir up dust.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
