WASHINGTON (AP) - The anthrax strains surfacing with terrifying impact in Florida, New York and Washington are all similar, Bush administration officials said Friday, likely indicating a single source. ``We obviously are preparing for more,'' said homeland security chief Tom Ridge.(Read photo caption below) Two weeks into the nation's bioterrorism scare, Ridge also said the FBI had traced two anthrax-tainted letters to a single mailbox in New Jersey.
Authorities disclosed two more cases of the skin form of the disease during the day, a New York newspaper employee and a New Jersey-area postal worker. That pushed the total to eight victims.
Capitol Hill was largely deserted during the day, save for hazardous materials teams checking the sprawling office buildings for evidence that spores had spread. Officials said they had not found any of the bacteria beyond previously known locations, including Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office and a central Senate mailroom. Three of 31 people were removed from the list of employees who earlier tested positive for exposure to the bacteria.
At a White House news conference, Ridge announced that after extensive lab tests, officials had concluded that all three strains of the bacteria ``are indistinguishable. They are similar.''
Ridge also told reporters the anthrax had not been ``weaponized,'' meaning it had not been manipulated to facilitate inhalation by potential victims.
In private, other officials said it plenty potent, just the same.
In Washington, Capitol police issued an alert declaring the Senate Hart and Dirksen office buildings each to be a ``warm zone,'' meaning no one was permitted to enter without ``personal protection equipment.'' A spokesman, Dan Nichols, said that was a routine designation in cases in which hazardous materials testing was planned.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge speaks to a news briefing at the White House, Friday, Oct. 19, 2001, about anthrax attacks. The number of confirmed cases of anthrax infections in the country stands at six, although the government is looking at a few more suspected cases of anthrax infection. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
- Oct 19 3:54 PM ET