U.S. buying 100 million doses of anthrax antibiotic

The Hart Senate office building

(CNN) -- As the number of confirmed and suspected anthrax cases grew, the government said Wednesday it had made a deal to buy more of an antibiotic that kills the insidious bacteria.

The Bush administration said it agreed with German pharmaceutical Bayer to purchase the anthrax antibiotic Cipro for 95 cents a pill -- down from the previously discounted price of $1.77 per tablet.

As part of the agreement, the government will make an initial purchase of 100 million tablets for $95 million. Bayer will donate 2 million tablets to the government's reserves, which now stand at 18.6 million.

"This agreement means that a much larger supply of this important pharmaceutical product will be available if needed," Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said in a statement.

There have been 32 cases of anthrax exposure and 13 confirmed anthrax infections -- seven cutaneous and six inhaled -- involving postal workers and news media employees. Three of the inhalation victims have died.

The source of the contamination appears to be three anthrax-laced letters identified by authorities as sent to several media offices and the Washington office of the Senate majority leader. The FBI, however, has not ruled out the possibility of other letters.

QUICKVOTE Should all Americans be vaccinated against anthrax? Yes No View Results  VIDEO CNN Elizabeth Cohen has more on the debate on how best to treat people after being exposed to Anthrax (October 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     EXTRA INFORMATION Click here to see copies of the letters released Tuesday by the Justice Department     Anthrax by the numbers 13 total anthrax infections   • 3 deaths from inhalation infections   • 3 cases inhalation infections   • 7 cases cutaneous anthrax 32 total anthrax exposures Source: CDC/CNN  IN-DEPTH  VIDEO/AUDIO   •  Investigators baffled by 94-year-old woman's death  MORE STORIES   •  Gephardt: Anthrax cleanup 'tougher than expected'   •  Official: CIA uses anthrax, but no link to letters  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Anthrax symptoms   •  Tracking the bacteria  RESOURCES   •  Advice on suspicious packages   •  Message board  The latest news

Latest developments

• Anthrax was discovered in a new location of the Hart Senate Office building Wednesday night, at the same time officials were preparing to open three other congressional facilities on Capitol Hill, investigators said.

The building, which houses the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle -- where an anthrax-laden letter was delivered more than a week ago -- also showed a positive reading for anthrax in the southwest quadrant next to a freight elevator on the first floor. (Full story)

• A second case of cutaneous (skin) anthrax has been confirmed at the New York Post, sources told CNN Wednesday. The latest victim is a mailroom worker. (Full story)

• A spokesman for Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, told CNN Wednesday evening that a journalist who had been in the Hart Senate Office Building where a anthrax-laden letter to Daschle was opened was being treated for suspicious symptoms of inhalation anthrax. Should it turn into a confirmed anthrax infection, it would be the first case from the Senate offices.

• Investigators looking for the source of three anthrax-laced letters addressed to two newsmen and a U.S. senator are drifting away from the route of a New Jersey mail carrier and focusing their attention on the processing facility where the letters were postmarked, the FBI said Wednesday. (Full story)

• President Bush on Wednesday again raised the possibility that the tainted letters may be linked to last month's terrorist attacks. "I have no direct evidence, but there are some links. Both series of actions are motivated by evil and hate. Both series of actions are meant to disrupt America's way of life," Bush said.

• The nation's postmaster general said Wednesday there is no need to shut down the U.S. Postal Service. "We have very defined incidents in four locations around the country," Jack Potter told CNN, referring to cases in New York, Florida, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

• Hospital officials said Wednesday six more employees of the Brentwood mail center -- the Washington facility that employed two mail handlers who died of inhalation anthrax -- are suspected of having anthrax and are hospitalized and taking the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. (Full story)

• The State Department will test and provide 10 days worth of the antibiotic Cipro to employees at all its mail-handling facilities served by the Brentwood center, according to a department health advisory. (Full story)

• U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Deborah Willhite said Wednesday environmental testing will be performed at mail facilities in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and the New York City area. She gave no reason for the testing. (Full story)

• Ernesto Blanco, a Florida man diagnosed with inhalation anthrax October 15, was released from a Miami hospital, his family said Wednesday. He will be kept on a 60-day regimen of Cipro, a hospital spokeswoman said. Blanco, 73, is an employee of Boca Raton-based publisher American Media Inc., where another employee died of the same disease.

• The Senate Hart and Dirksen office buildings will remain closed Thursday as crews continue anthrax testing, although senators or their staff members will be permitted with written authorization to enter the buildings to retrieve items from their offices.

• The U.S. State Department has issued a worldwide caution on anthrax to Americans overseas. The warning says the current method of delivery of anthrax has been by letter or package and that "while the risk of such attacks is limited, it cannot be excluded." (Full story)