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CNN Sunday Morning

Four Confirmed Cases of Exposure to Anthrax in U.S.

Aired October 14, 2001 - 10:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we want to bring you the latest we do know about the anthrax scare and the latest numbers that we have: That would be four confirmed cases of exposure, three in Florida and one in New York. A letter was mailed to Reno, Nevada. That one has tested positive for anthrax. That letter in Nevada was mailed to a subsidiary of Microsoft. The employees who came in contact with that letter are being tested for anthrax exposure.

Our coverage on this continues. We've a number of correspondents working on this story today. We have our John Zarrella standing by in Florida.

First, though, we're going to go to Jason Carroll, who is in New York. Jason, good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Late yesterday, health officials announced that they do have identified the source of anthrax that infected an NBC employee. That woman has just been identified as a Tom Brokaw's assistant. It apparently came from an envelope postmarked on September 18 from Trenton, New Jersey. Also a second NBC employee, who handled that same letter, apparently has symptoms, which may indicate possible -- we want to stress "possible" exposure to anthrax.

Now initially, the investigation, Daryn, had focused on a letter postmarked on September 25. That letter was also addressed to Tom Brokaw, as well as the letter addressed to the "New York Times." Tests on both of those letters so far have turned up negative.

Brokaw's assistant has a cutaneous form of anthrax that is a skin infection. It is normally treatable with antibiotics such as Cipro or doxycycline. Health officials here at NBC have set up a clinic, if you will, to test the employees here at NBC. We're told that 350 employees have been tested so far, this being done only as a precautionary measure.

For more on the anthrax story right now, I want to turn it over to my colleague John Zarrella. He's standing by, live, for us right now at Boca Raton, Florida -- John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jason.

Well, the story here continuing to develop late yesterday afternoon reports that five additional American Media employees tested positive for anthrax exposure, and those results would have come from blood tests that were given to the 300 employees. You may recall that a thousand people were given nasal swabs -- that was the 300 employees plus 700 visitors who had been in and out of the building from the period of August 1 until the time it was closed down by the FBI.

Well, at this point, there is no confirmation that in fact, those five employees do have anthrax exposure. It was reported by company officials and employees that that was the case, but the Centers for Disease Control and federal investigators have not confirmed. They are yet saying that they tested positive for an antibody in their blood. But antibodies are germ fighters and it's not quite sure, definitive, that those antibodies were present because the anthrax bacteria is present in them.

You can see in the shot we are showing you now. It's relatively quiet at the American Media today. Federal investigators are in there, the six-foot chain link fence still surrounding the building. But we've seen no activity or anyone going in and out of the building at this point. Our understanding is that for the most part, the search of that building is pretty much completed.

On Friday, federal officials, FBI spokesman said that they had taken 78 additional samples out of that building in the course of a couple of days of investigating and sent those to the Centers for Disease Control for evaluation.

Now again, five additional cases being reported of anthrax exposure, but it's not definitive. Federal officials are saying they still need to do further testing to make sure that that's the case. So at this point, it is just the initial three cases here in South Florida. The initial case, Bob Stevens, who died, and the two mailroom workers who did come down with anthrax exposure.

This is John Zarrella reporting live from Boca Raton, Florida -- Daryn.

KAGAN: John, thank you very much.

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