Governor says anthrax probe at 'dead end'

HARTFORD, Connecticut (CNN) -- The investigation into how 94-year-old widow Ottilie Lundgren contracted anthrax has produced no solid clues and is at a "dead end," Gov. John Rowland said Monday.

"We're really not any closer to solving the mystery," Rowland said in an interview with CNN. "I would liken it to the 61-year-old woman in New York who contracted anthrax and died, and it's been a dead end."

Rowland said one "minimal possibility" is that Lundgren contracted anthrax naturally. Although the bacteria exists in the outdoors, scientists have described that possibility as remote.

Investigators are focusing on the mail, suspecting Lundgren may have contracted the anthrax through a letter that may have had "cross-contamination."

No such tainted mail has been discovered, however, and there has been no trace of anthrax at the two postal facilities that served Lundgren's home in Oxford in southwestern Connecticut.

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  If you receive a suspicious package: Handle with care; don't shake or bump Isolate and look for indicators Don't open, smell or taste Treat it as suspect; call 911 Source: FBI

"The good news is as we continue to do tests in the postal facilities and at Mrs. Lundgren's home, we're finding that there's no trace of anthrax," Rowland said.

"And I say that's good news because I was worried about postal employees from two different facilities and we have no one else with any symptoms. The bad news is of course that the mystery continues."

Rowland said he has ordered hospitals throughout the state to review their records to see if anybody died over the past two months suffering from "pneumonia-like symptoms" in case there have been other anthrax cases.

More than 900 postal employees and at least 15 relatives and friends of Lundgren have received a 10-day supply of the antibiotic Cipro as a precaution, according to the Connecticut Department of Health. No postal employee or Lundgren family member or friend has tested positive for exposure to anthrax.

In another development, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said Sunday an anthax-laced letter mailed to his office may contain enough spores "to kill well over a 100,000 people," but noted investigators had not yet opened the tainted missive.

Leahy appeared to be basing his comments about the letter from an initial analysis of its exterior; sources have said some spores seeped through the sealed envelope.

"It appears that the letter sent to me may contain enough spores to kill well over a 100,000 people, but it also may well have evidence, fingerprints or anything else," Leahy said.

"And I think that the law enforcement people want to be really careful about opening it, one, so they don't kill somebody, but secondly, so they're able to retain the evidence that might be there," Leahy said.

"This may be one of the better clues that we have, and I'm in no hurry for them to get it opened, if it will help them get more clues."

The letter is being examined at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

The Leahy letter was the latest in a string of contaminated mailings. Other letters were sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, NBC News and the New York Post.

The letter addressed to Leahy was postmarked from Trenton, New Jersey, on October 9 -- the same day the Daschle letter was mailed from that city. The NBC letter was postmarked from Trenton on September 18.

The handwriting on the envelopes of the letters sent to Daschle, Leahy and NBC News was very similar. Attorney General John Ashcroft said investigators believe all four letters came from the same person.

In all, eighteen people have contracted anthrax infections and five of them, including Lundgren, have died. Investigators believe tainted letters sent to politicians and media outlets -- and possibly others -- are responsible for the infections, although links have been hard to establish in some cases.

Lundgren was buried Saturday in the small Connecticut town where she lived.

Tests showed that the anthrax that killed her was indistinguishable from the anthrax in the other cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The widow had no apparent connection to the U.S. Postal Service, government offices or news outlets that have received or processed anthrax-laden letters.

Only one other victim of inhalation anthrax -- Kathy Nguyen, a New York City hospital worker who died October 31 -- had a similar lack of connection to the letters.