Route of infected N.J. letter carrier searched

Another worker may also be infected

TRENTON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Police are searching the route of a female letter carrier in suburban Trenton who according to acting New Jersey Gov. Donald DiFrancesco tested positive for skin, or cutaneous, anthrax, a law enforcement official told CNN Thursday.

Two letters contaminated with anthrax, one sent to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw in New York and the other to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in Washington, were postmarked in Trenton.

That means the letters probably went through a distribution facility in Hamilton Township just outside the New Jersey capital that serves the West Trenton post office out of which the letter carrier works.

Postal Inspector Tony Esposito said the letter carrier's route consists of nearly 250 homes and businesses.

He said the carrier took mail only from places along her route and did not pick up letters from general collection boxes.

Esposito said mail arriving at the facility is marked with a fluorescent tag identifying the batch from which it came.

He said if the fluorescent mark remained on the letters, it might help in tracing where the letters originated.

DiFrancesco said tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta indicated a second employee -- a male maintenance worker on sorting machines at the distribution center -- also may be infected.

"Both have been under care of physician for number of weeks and are taking antibiotics to combat the bacteria," he said. "Both are doing well."

The employees' doctors contacted federal officials after authorities revealed the letters sent to Daschle and Brokaw were postmarked in Trenton.

It was not clear whether either worker handled the letters.

Acting Health Commissioner George DiFerdinando said one employee started on antibiotics in late September and the other in early October.

Investigators are checking the Trenton Processing and Distribution Center in Hamilton Township as a crime scene and a health hazard. The building was closed to the public.

Representatives of the New Jersey Department of Health were meeting with employees to distribute information and collect samples for further testing.

"At this point we are aware of no other cases at the facility," DiFrancesco said.

DiFrancesco, the New Jersey Senate president, became acting governor in January when Gov. Christie Whitman resigned to head the federal Environmental Protection Agency. He will serve as acting governor and Senate president until January 2002.