NEW YORK, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Investigators Sunday were expected to report the results of additional tests to determine if more employees of NBC have been infected with anthrax, the potentially deadly bacteria that was evidently transmitted by a letter just a week after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
With anthrax confirmed at sites in Florida, Nevada and New York City -- infecting one NBC "Nightly News" employee and detected in another -- the total number of people known to have been in contact with anthrax climbed to 10, including its first victim, a 63-year-old photo editor in Florida.
The death Oct. 5 has prompted hundreds of people to undergo testing while many pharmacies reported increased demand for antibiotics, apparently being taken as a precaution even far from the three states where anthrax has been detected.
In Florida, five more people in Boca Raton were found to have been exposed, Michael Kahane, general counsel for American Media Inc., said late Saturday afternoon. That brought to eight the number in that state testing positive.
It was not immediately known if all five were employees of the tabloid publisher because the tests have also been administered to those who visited the building and to postal workers.
Two letters sent to NBC News in New York were contaminated with anthrax and a second employee there has been exposed, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said earlier Saturday.
Speaking to reporters, Giuliani said the second letter to NBC was sent from Trenton, N.J. to NBC "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw. The threatening letter contained a granular substance and anthrax tests on it were positive.
Since this letter was received Sept. 18, a week earlier than another letter handled by Brokaw's assistant, more NBC employees may have to be tested for anthrax exposure during the intervening period.
So far 358 NBC employees and others who may have been exposed at the NBC offices have been tested.
Though the second NBC woman whose exposure was disclosed did display some flu symptoms and a rash, it was unclear whether her current symptoms resulted from anthrax exposure. In any event, officials said she was expected to be protected from the disease by the antibiotics.
Stephen Ostroff, associate director of the National Center for Infectious Disease of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, described the woman's symptoms as "a low-grade fever, swollen lymph nodes and a rash."
"It was a relatively mild illness," said Ostroff, adding later she "is OK."
Erin O'Connor, the 38-year-old assistant to Brokaw, had been receiving antibiotics since Oct. 1 and her chest lesion was confirmed Friday to have been caused by anthrax. She contracted the least dangerous form, however, that of the skin. The Florida victim was killed by an infection of the lungs caused by inhaling anthrax spores.
O'Connor is expected to recover fully.
Still other letters originally suspected to contain anthrax mailed from St. Petersburg, Fla., to the New York Times, NBC and the St. Petersburg Times have been tested and, so far, have been negative for anthrax.
An envelope containing a powder showed up on columnist Howard Troxler's desk at the St. Petersburg Times on Tuesday. The desk was wrapped in plastic and reporters near the desk continued about their business. The white substance tested negative for anthrax.
"Otherwise, things in the (New York) city appear to be pretty normal. I think people absorbed this news about anthrax. I think they understand a lot more about anthrax than they ever wanted to know," Giuliani said before heading off to more memorials and funerals for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
"We have identified the missing link, so to speak, the actual cause of this anthrax which has created this whole situation," said NBC Chairman Bob Wright.
American Media, the first site where a letter containing anthrax was discovered, publishes the National Enquirer, the Sun, the Spanish-language Mira and other tabloids. Bob Stevens, 63, had been a photo editor for the Sun and early tests showed two other employees, 73-year old Enrique Blanco and 36-year-old Stephanie Dailey had been exposed as well.
The seven people exposed to anthrax in Florida, the original victim and the two people at NBC brought to 10 the total confirmed to have contacted anthrax spores.
Authorities were also still waiting for test results for fewer than 100 other American Media employees plus those of 15 U.S. Postal Service employees at a nearby branch post office.
The third test on a letter mailed from Malaysia to a Microsoft office in Reno, Nev., was positive for anthrax, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn said Saturday. Preliminary tests, which looked at slightly different factors, had been negative.
The letter had contained a check made out to a vendor in Malaysia. The letter was returned to the Microsoft office but the check and envelope appeared oddly dampened and obscene materials had been put into the envelope. The unusual situation prompted the Reno employees to call authorities.
The anthrax was found on one of the obscene pictures, said Guinn, who added the material was being sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more sophisticated DNA tests to determine whether the anthrax is a virulent and potentially deadly strain, or one used to manufacture anthrax vaccine and therefore harmless.
"This is a very low risk to the public," Quinn said. Five or six people apparently handled the letter, which sat on an office desk for some time before it was opened.
Other reports from California and Colorado now appear to be false alarms.
A Culver City, Calif., incident involved a 30-year-old male temporary employee of Sony Studios who was hospitalized Friday night after reportedly coming into contact with an unknown white powder while handling office papers.
A representative of Sony told United Press International Saturday that, upon investigation, law enforcement could not find any type of powder in the letter and the unidentified man was released from the hospital and was not on antibiotics.
US Airways said Saturday Flight 121 from Charlotte, N.C. to Denver was diverted to Indianapolis as a precautionary measure after an unidentified powder was discovered. The powder was analyzed and discovered to be non-toxic, according to a US Airways spokesman David Castelveter. A flight attendant discovered the substance in a trash bag in the galley.
In Denver, the FBI said Friday it analyzed a white powdery substance found in a piece of mail opened in Parker, Colo., 20 miles southeast of Denver. The substance was found to be pudding mix, according to officials at Parker Town Hall.
In San Jose, about 80 passengers were held aboard a United Airlines flight from Chicago to San Jose for almost four hours Saturday after a man was said to have stood up in flight and released a powdery white substance into the air ventilation system.
Noelle Knell, a spokeswoman for San Jose Airport, told UPI: "It was a false alarm. A man opened a letter with confetti inside and several passengers seated nearby became alarmed and notified the crew."
Knell said the plane landed safely in San Jose at 2:30 p.m. PDT, and that all the passengers had been reunited with their families.
Back at NBC's Rockefeller Plaza offices and studios, actress Drew Barrymore opened as host of the "Saturday Night Live" program saying she had at first refused to get on an airplane, and then, after mustering enough courage to fly to New York, left the preparations for the program when she heard about the anthrax in the building.
Finally, she said, she returned knowing that she had to be brave, accompanied by her husband, whom the camera showed to be sitting in the audience wearing a gas mask.
