Positive Initial Detection for Anthrax at Pentagon

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Positive Initial Detection for Anthrax at Pentagon
By John D. Banusiewicz
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, March 14, 2005 ? Defense Department officials confirmed that a positive test for the presence of anthrax bacteria during routine mail operations today led to the evacuation of a Pentagon outbuilding. However, officials stressed, subsequent tests have been negative.
The Pentagon issued a statement saying the department is taking precautionary measures while conducting further testing of the Remote Delivery Facility, where the Pentagon?s mail is delivered.

Officials emphasized that the mail already had been irradiated under procedures put into place after a mail-borne anthrax attack killed several people in and around Washington in October 2001. If anthrax had been killed by the irradiation, officials explained, initial screening likely would still produce a positive indication.

DoD officials notified and briefed all mail-facility workers of the positive test. Officials said others who may have come in contact with the mail are being contacted and briefed as well. About 175 people work in and around the mail facility, and about 100 others may have come in contact with the mail during the delivery process, officials said.

All personnel who may have had contact with deliveries are being asked to provide nasal-swab cultures and are being provided with a three-day regimen of antibiotics to cover the period of further testing. The U.S. Army Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., is conducting confirmatory tests, and the results are expected in two to three days, officials said.

Any positive tests will be reported, and the personnel will be contacted, officials added.

Someone exposed to anthrax would experience fever, sweats and chills, officials said, noting that the typical onset of symptoms does not take place for several days.

Pentagon officials said they?re working closely with Arlington County, Va., officials, as well as with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service.

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Biological Alarm Shuts Down Second DoD Facility
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, March 15, 2005 ? Local officials shut down three buildings leased by the Defense Department in suburban Virginia after a biological-agent detection system sounded an alarm in one of the buildings March 14.
Initial test results indicated the presence of anthrax in the building, located in the Skyline office complex in Falls Church. ?At this time, it is not clear if this is a false positive or a true positive result,? advised a press release from the Fairfax County government. Officials said additional tests are being conducted.

This alarm came just hours after a mail-handling facility in a Pentagon outbuilding was shut down because of a similar incident. Employees of the Remote Delivery Facility were evacuated after an alarm indicated the presence of a chemical or biological agent during normal operations. That facility remains closed for further testing.

As of this morning, all three Skyline buildings, which are interconnected, remain closed as well. Fairfax County officials said this measure is a precaution until more testing can be completed. ?However, health officials stress that the general public is not at risk of exposure,? the county press release stated.

The Skyline office complex houses several DoD agencies. County officials required employees there to stay inside their buildings for several hours after the alarm sounded in the afternoon. They were later advised to wash their hands and faces before departing.

Information provided to all employees told them to go directly home and place their clothing in a plastic bag and tie it. A fact sheet employees received instructed them to keep the bag in a safe place and not to disturb or open it until they receive further instructions.

On a recorded information line, a Fairfax County official advised that the initial test results at the site are preliminary and that ?confirmatory tests? are being conducted. ?Decisions regarding the need for antibiotic treatment and follow-up will be based on these test results,? the official said.

The Fairfax County information line number is (703) 246-2411.

Employees of the Pentagon site that was evacuated were provided with a three-day regimen of antibiotics after nasal swabs were taken from all individuals for culture to test for individual exposure to anthrax, DoD officials said.

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Pentagon Officials Retrieving Mail From Distribution Points
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, March 15, 2005 ? Pentagon officials are working to collect an estimated 8,000 pieces of mail that passed through the building?s mail-processing facility between March 10 and 14.
The test that indicated a preliminary positive for anthrax bacteria March 14 was done on a sample collected March 10 from the Pentagon?s Remote Delivery Facility, Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said. From there, the mail was taken to 12 distribution nodes throughout the Pentagon. It now is being moved back to a designated area in the RDF, Flood said.

Officials believe it ?highly unlikely? that any mail that passed through the RDF during the specified timeframe has been delivered to individual offices, he said.

He could not, however, confirm whether any mail from that timeframe moved through the RDF and to the Skyline office complex, in nearby Falls Church, Va., where a separate biological alarm indicated the presence of anthrax there March 14. Local officials shut down three buildings leased by the Defense Department after an alarm sounded in one building there.

So far individual test results on swabs taken from 263 people who may have passed through the Pentagon facility in the specified timeframe are all negative for exposure to anthrax, Flood said. He explained that about 200 people work in the facility, and the others are people who may have come in contact with the area.

Officials hope to reopen at least part of the delivery facility ? which is not in, but next to ? the Pentagon building, within the next day or so. ?The goal is to get the RDF up and running as soon as possible,? Flood said.

Mail-processing operations take up only about 10 percent of the 200,000-square-foot facility. One possibility is to cordon off the mail-sorting areas for further testing and investigation and reopen the rest of the facility.

Another possibility officials are considering is to move the facility?s delivery-screening function to another location temporarily.

Flood said it?s important to resume some of that function because it?s not just mail that?s being affected. All deliveries to the Pentagon -- including office and cleaning supplies and food for the building?s eateries ? have been halted for the time being.