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Daschle Letter Bombshell Billions of anthrax spores

By HELEN KENNEDY Daily News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON

Officials said yesterday that the deadly letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle that may be the source of the anthrax contamination here contained hundreds of billions of spores — and could have caused an even greater catastrophe.

Republican senators were told the anthrax in the Daschle letter was "so powerful it could have killed everyone in the Hart Office Building if it had gotten into the ventilation system," CBS News reported last night.

The assessment was given to the senators during a closed meeting by Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) — who is also a doctor and has been working with health officials, according to the network.

Daschle (D-S.D.) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said they were told by investigators that the envelope opened Oct. 15 contained 2 grams of anthrax powder — an amount so small it would not even be visible.

But the spores have been described as measuring 1.5 by 3 microns, meaning the tiny amount of powder — weighing just a third of a regular 6-gram sheet of paper — would contain between 200 billion and 2trillion spores, depending on how many additives were present.

Experts believe it takes only about 8,000 spores in the air to give a person fatal inhalation anthrax. Far fewer spores can worm into a cut to develop into the less deadly skin anthrax.

Although 28 people in Daschle's office and other areas nearby tested positive for anthrax exposure, none have come down with the disease.

Health officials believe this is because they immediately began taking Cipro, which works as a preventive drug for the disease.

Postmaster General John Potter told a House committee yesterday the Daschle letter was carefully taped closed — one of the reasons officials were so slow to recognize it could pose a threat to postal workers. It wasn't until two were dead that steps were taken to protect the rest.

"The theory that we were operating under seemed logical: given the amount of protection tape that was put on the envelopes ... they were not contaminating until they were opened at the destination," Potter said.

But regular paper is porous, studded with holes as large as 100 microns — meaning the tiny invisible anthrax particles can pass right through the envelope as it is handled.

"It wasn't until later on that we found out that the size of the spores were 1 micron in size and that they had the ability to penetrate paper," Potter said.

"How I wish we would have known."

New Hot Spots

More evidence that the Daschle letter leaked onto other mail, which then transported spores across Washington, surfaced yesterday.

Anthrax traces were found at several new locations — a Capitol Police office and two post offices, one in bustling Friendship Heights and the other near Dulles Airport.

After several hot spots were found at the State Department, the head of Foggy Bottom's medical unit said anthrax spores are "probably all over" the two-block building, though not in strong enough concentrations to cause inhalation anthrax.

"Your office areas probably have some contamination," Dr. Cedric Dumont told a gathering of State Department workers. "We've got envelopes probably throughout the system that may have very few spores on them. They are probably all over the place. We need to go back and have a reality check on the level of risk."

Several congressmen, led by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), expressed angry surprise to learn that no one has yet examined the mail that was bundled directly with the Daschle letter to see if it is contaminated, which could be an important clue.

The Capitol mail from those few days has been shipped to Ohio for sanitizing, Potter told the Government Reform Committee, and will be examined when it gets back to D.C.

"This delay [in testing] is very disturbing," Waxman and committee chairman Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) wrote to the FBI. "It is also a matter of concern that mail exposed to the Daschle letter will be sterilized before any testing takes place, thus potentially destroying the ability to test for cross-contamination."

Potter said the Postal Service will spend $2.5 billion to buy machines that can kill bacteria in mail with X-rays and other radiation.

"It's not far-fetched to assume that this could hurt us to the tune of several billion dollars," Potter said. "We definitely are going to ask for an appropriation."

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

Answers

Maybe the pope can donate some money, Jack.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

Shipped to OHIO for sterilization??????????????? Yikes, now let's have a nice outbreak in the heartland also. These clowns need to be fired and exported!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

Someone please explain why two grains of refined anthrax would be tossed into a single envelope. Did the perps not understand the significance of what they had in their hands? Was it to suggest they had so much anthrax to burn they could afford that level of luxury?

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

brooks dear, that is two grams, not grains.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

Sorry, the headache won't go away. I was striving for something more official than a "teaspoonful".

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001

LOL

sorry to hear about the headache. Maybe if you stub your toe?

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001