State Dept. to test workers for anthrax

Mailroom employees to get Cipro

By Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The State Department will test and provide 10 days worth of the antibiotic Cipro to employees at all its mail-handling facilities, according to a department health advisory obtained by CNN.

The advisory said the measure is "in response to the recent cases of inhalation anthrax in postal employees" at the Brentwood center that serves almost all of the District of Columbia, including the State Department, White House and Congress.

Two workers at the center have died of anthrax infections.

The move followed an announcement Tuesday by the White House that anthrax had been found at its offsite mail center, prompting testing of employees there.

The D.C. Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised that all postal workers served by the Brentwood center receive testing and precautionary antibiotic treatment.

The State Department mail facilities covered by the advisory include those at the department's headquarters, annex buildings and remote mail site in Virginia.

The personnel covered include those who handle mail for the department's bureaus and those at U.S. embassies who handled mail from the Brentwood center between October 11 and October 22.

In explaining why mail recipients were not being tested, the health advisory said, "The risk of exposure to anthrax for individual mail recipients, as compared to mail handlers, has been felt to be quite low."