ATLANTA (Reuters) – A fourth person, a New York hospital worker, died from inhalation anthrax early Wednesday.
A total of 16 people have been confirmed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as having been infected with the bacterial disease.
FLORIDA
-��� Bob Stevens, 63, photo editor at American Media Inc, inhalation anthrax, deceased
-��� Ernesto Blanco, 73, mailroom employee at AMI, inhalation anthrax
NEW YORK
-��� Kathy Nguyen, 61, hospital worker, inhalation anthrax, deceased
-��� Erin O’Connor, 38, assistant to NBC television news anchor Tom Brokaw, skin anthrax
-��� Infant son of ABC TV producer, skin anthrax
-��� female, 27, CBS employee who works with TV News anchor Dan Rather, skin anthrax
NEW JERSEY
-��� female, 56, postal worker in Hamilton Township, inhalation anthrax
-��� female, also postal worker in Hamilton Township, inhalation case
-��� female, postal worker in West Trenton, skin anthrax
-��� male, 35, postal worker in Hamilton Township facility, skin anthrax
-��� female, 51, not a postal worker, skin anthrax
WASHINGTON AREA
-��� Thomas Morris Jr., 55, Brentwood postal facility worker, inhalation anthrax, deceased
-��� Joseph Curseen, 47, Brentwood postal facility worker, inhalation anthrax, deceased
-��� male, Brentwood worker, inhalation anthrax
-��� male, Brentwood worker, inhalation anthrax
-��� male, 59, State Department mailroom worker at Sterling, Virginia, facility, inhalation anthrax.
Previous, higher estimates of confirmed cases, compiled from numerous sources, have included two New York
Post employees and a second employee at NBC in New York. The CDC said Tuesday it considers these three to be among the suspected cases.
Traces of anthrax also have been found at a White House mail facility outside the nation’s capital, in congressional buildings on Capitol Hill, where 28 Senate staff members tested positive for anthrax exposure, as well as at other government buildings.
Inhaling anthrax is usually fatal if not treated quickly with antibiotics. Initial flu-like symptoms are typically followed after a few days by breathing difficulties and shock.
Skin anthrax is less severe, with those infected generally responding well to antibiotics.
The third form, gastrointestinal anthrax, which can be contracted by eating contaminated meat, has not emerged. Anthrax is not contagious.
Following are outlines of the main U.S. cases.
-��� BOCA RATON, Florida
Bob Stevens, a photo editor at tabloid newspaper publisher American Media Inc., died on Oct. 5 of inhaled anthrax infection. A mailroom employee at AMI, diagnosed as having an inhaled anthrax infection, was released after recovering in a Miami hospital.
Spores were found on a computer keyboard and in the mailroom of the AMI building, and also at Boca Raton’s main post office.
-��� WASHINGTON
Thomas Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen, who worked at the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, died from inhalation anthrax. Morris died on Oct. 21 and Curseen on Oct. 22.
Two others who worked at the facility are being treated for the inhaled form of the disease.
The Brentwood facility handled letters to the Capitol, including an anthrax-laced letter that was sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s office from Trenton, New Jersey.
Twenty staffers from Daschle’s office were among those testing positive for exposure without contracting the disease.
The House of Representatives shut down briefly because of the anthrax scare and some congressional offices also closed.
A State Department mailroom worker at a mail facility in Sterling, Virginia, also contracted inhaled anthrax.
-��� NEW YORK
Early on Wednesday Kathy Nguyen, who worked in a storage supply room in the basement of the Manhattan
Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, died from inhalation anthrax. Health officials are concerned because the patient did not work directly with mail.
An assistant to NBC television news anchor Tom Brokaw contracted a skin infection after being exposed to a letter that contained anthrax.
A second NBC employee previously suspected of having skin anthrax after handling a letter to Brokaw was confirmed to have the disease by local officials, but the CDC has not confirmed that case.
An infant son of an ABC TV producer, and a CBS employee who works with TV News anchor Dan Rather have tested positive for skin anthrax. It is unclear how they became exposed.
A female member of the support staff for the New York Post editorial page has tested positive for skin anthrax but the CDC does not consider her case confirmed. The paper said the FBI found a letter that tested positive for anthrax. Another Post employee has a probable case of skin anthrax, but the CDC has not confirmed it.
-��� NEW JERSEY
Two postal workers at the Hamilton Township facility are being treated for inhaled anthrax and another at the facility has skin anthrax. One other postal worker at the West Trenton post office has skin anthrax. A woman, who does not work for the post office, also has skin anthrax.
