Crews sweep U.S. House chamber for anthrax

WASHINGTON -- Environmental crews dressed in protective gear conducted a sweep and inspection of the chambers of the House of Representatives late Saturday to search for the presence of anthrax, after investigators found the bacteria in the Ford House Office Building mailroom.

Anthrax was also detected in an off-site mail screening facility run by Capitol police, officials said Saturday.

This brings to four the number of sites in and around Capitol Hill where anthrax has been found. The other sites are the Senate mail room in the Dirksen building and in the Hart Senate Office Building -- more specifically in Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office, after an anthrax-laced letter was delivered there.

Despite the confirmation of the presence of anthrax in the Ford Office building -- on a machine that bundles mail bound for members of the House of Representatives -- legislators will "definitely" be in session Tuesday, their next scheduled meeting time, a spokesman for the House Majority Leader said.

A joint statement from House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, and Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Missouri, said mail from the machine that tested positive was sent to the Longworth House Office Building, where a number of representatives have offices.

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Capitol Hill Police spokesman Lt. Dan Nichols said a swab taken Wednesday from a mail bundling machine in the Ford House Office Building mailroom proved positive for anthrax Saturday morning. All other machines tested proved negative.

Spores for anthrax also turned up in the off-site mail delivery center, about 15 blocks from Capitol Hill, where all mail for Congress is received, Nichols said.

"This is a developing investigation and we don't know if there is another letter, it's something we're looking into," he said. "This is possibly cross-contamination with the letter that was received by Senator Daschle."

The discovery comes less than a week after 28 people on the Senate side of Capitol Hill were exposed to the bacteria that causes anthrax. The majority were Daschle staffers who were in the immediate area when the letter was opened.

The investigation into the letter received Monday by Daschle led authorities to the off-site mail delivery center on the corner of P Street and Half Street.

"From there, the investigation went to the Ford House Office Building mailroom, and that's where we got the positive swab returned," Nichols said.

Arrangements are being made to take nasal swabs from workers in the Ford mailroom, Nichols said.

Meanwhile, a male postal worker at the Brentwood processing facility in Washington, DC, has been hospitalized after coming down with flu-like symptoms. That facility handles mail for Capitol Hill. However, D.C. Health Department Director Ivan Walks said "swab tests in this individual have not been positive for anthrax."

"Clinically, we are not looking at skin lesions in this individual, but we are looking at all possibilities for all the different types of infections that can present this way," Walks said.

The man is in stable condition and his infection is being treated with antibiotics, said Walks.

Environmental tests in parts of the Brentwood facility began last Thursday, according to U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Debbie Willhite. Results of those tests will be known Sunday or Monday, she said.

The House was last in session Wednesday night. Since then, the building has been closed to everyone but environmental teams wearing protective gear.

Despite Saturday's results, "We will definitely be in session Tuesday," said John Feehery, Hastert's spokesman. Earlier this week, some House representatives were chagrined at a New York Post headline that referred to them as "Wimps" for canceling a session amid the anthrax scare.

Feehery added that an alternative location was being pursued if members are not able to return to the House.

--From CNN Correspondents Kate Snow and Jonathan Karl