Conn. anthrax death may be linked to letters

HARTFORD, Connecticut (CNN) -- State health officials investigating the anthrax death of an elderly Connecticut woman said Tuesday they will conduct more tests at two postal facilities to determine whether any mail was cross-contaminated by an anthrax-laced letter sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy.

"A number of pieces of mail that would have passed" through postal facilities near the victim's home also came through the Hamilton Township, New Jersey, center during the time it processed the Leahy letter, state Department of Public Health officials said their investigation discovered.

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The tainted letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle also went through the New Jersey center.

No trace of anthrax was discovered in previous tests of the two facilities in Wallingford and Seymour, but the officials said "more sensitive testing methods" would be used to resample the facilities to find any "spore trail."

Gov. John Rowland said Tuesday an autopsy showed anthrax did not kill an elderly man who lived in the same southwestern area of the state around New Haven as state's only known anthrax victim.

"The 84-year-old man from Seymour did not die from anthrax," Rowland told reporters. "That report is conclusive from CDC and from our own public health officials."

Rowland said the autopsy was performed because the man died suddenly and alone last week. Tissue tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention likewise were negative for anthrax.

After 94-year-old widow Ottilie Lundgren of Oxford died November 21, the governor ordered hospitals throughout the state to review their records to see whether anyone died over the past two months suffering from "pneumonia-like symptoms" that might have been anthrax.

Rowland also said a family in Seymour, whom officials were concerned might have received mail possibly cross-contaminated by mail sent to Lundgren, tested negative for anthrax.

In another angle of the investigation, Rowland said FBI agents and CDC experts removed sealed containers from an agriculture building at the University of Connecticut after outside law enforcement agencies received a tip there may be anthrax inside old containers that date to the 1960s.

One Connecticut victim, few clues

Eighteen people in the Eastern United States have contracted anthrax infections. Five, including Lundgren, have died, all from inhalation anthrax.

Federal investigators believe tainted letters sent to politicians and news outlets -- and possibly others -- are responsible for most of the infections, although links have been hard to establish in some cases, including Lundgren's.

Tests did show the anthrax that killed Lundgren was indistinguishable from the anthrax in the other cases, according to the CDC.

No traces of anthrax have been found in Lundgren's home in Oxford, a restaurant she frequented and a beauty shop in the town.

More than 900 postal employees and at least 15 relatives and friends of Lundgren's 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.

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.

Lundgren's infection is more mysterious because she lived alone in rural Connecticut, had a limited schedule and did not travel much.