Centers for Disease Control tests on small trace of anthrax found...
Centers for Disease Control tests on small trace of anthrax found at FCC off-site mail facility (CD Feb 4 p4) revealed “a weak or very scant amount of anthrax consistent with cross-contamination of mail,” FCC said late Mon. Commission…
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said it was making arrangements for Capitol Heights, Md., mail facility to be decontaminated and retested “as soon as possible.” Mail deliveries won’t resume until that process “has been satisfactorily completed,” it said. Because of weakness of trace, CDC recommended that FCC mail processing contractors not take antibiotics. Commission, as further precaution, also was arranging for testing of its mailroom in Gettysburg, Pa. Anthrax trace was found Jan. 29 when Public Health Service tested site. After first anthrax contamination on Capitol Hill in fall, mail receipt, processing and screening was moved out of FCC hq to Capitol Heights facility. After Commission was informed of trace finding, it stopped all mail deliveries to Capitol Heights facility until receipt of final CDC results. Initially, that included stopping processing of commercial overnight deliveries, such as FedEx, UPS, and DHL, and hand-delivered packages. However, because those services didn’t contain risk of cross-contamination with U.S. Postal Service material, Commission resumed receiving those materials Feb. 1 in Capitol Heights facility, but away from the mail processing area. FCC’s filing window at 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, for hand-delivered or messenger-delivered paper filings for Commission’s Secy. was unaffected by situation and filings continued to be accepted and processed by the Office of the Secy. at that site. FCC said it would continue to test facility periodically.