State Dept. mail handler has inhalation anthrax

Another employee being tested

Boucher: Most of department's mail comes through postal center that employed two people who died of inhalation anthrax.

By Andrea Koppel and Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A State Department mail handler has been hospitalized for inhalation anthrax and another employee who has "flu-like symptoms" was being "tested and evaluated," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday.

Boucher said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first man was diagnosed with inhalation anthrax.

The man, who was not identified, complained of flu-like symptoms Wednesday and was hospitalized and tested positive for anthrax, Boucher said.

He said the man worked at the State Department's main mail-handling facility in Sterling, Virginia, which has about 80 employees.

The Sterling facility received mail from the Brentwood processing center that serves almost all of the District of Columbia. Two people who worked at the center have died from inhalation anthrax.

The State Department employee was a supervisor on the receiving dock, which received mail directly from Brentwood, Boucher said.

The other employee also worked at the Sterling facility, although it was not clear what his job was, Boucher said.

He said about 90 percent of mail received by department comes through the Brentwood center.

MORE STORIES • Q&A about anthrax decontamination    EXTRA INFORMATION • Anthrax through the ages

About 80 percent of that mail is then sent to U.S. embassies and consulates, and 20 percent is sent to department headquarters and annexes in the Washington area.

Six or seven State Department mail facilities get their mail directly from Brentwood, Boucher said.

He said at least two and possibly three mailrooms in department's Foggy Bottom headquarters receive mail directly from Brentwood and were being tested for possible anthrax exposure.

Boucher said six department mail facilities have been shut down and mail is not being delivered, including the mailrooms at the Washington passport office and the USAID office.

Secretary of State Colin Powell informed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the department's first case of anthrax at an afternoon hearing.

The department began testing all its mail handlers for anthrax Wednesday and providing them with the antibiotic Cipro, according to a department health advisory obtained by CNN.

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.

Boucher said between 250 and 300 department employees in Washington are taking Cipro and are being tested for anthrax exposure.