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Breaking News

Discovery of Anthrax Inside State Department Mailbag in Central Russia

Aired November 06, 2001 - 09:05   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tracking a little bit of breaking news this morning, the discovery apparently of anthrax inside a State Department mailbag in central Russia.

For more on that, we turn to CNN's Colleen McEdwards live from Moscow -- Colleen.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles.

Yes, no more apparently about it. But do we have it confirmed now, that mail in the U.S. consulate in Yekaterinburg has tested positive for anthrax. Now Yekaterinburg, as you mentioned, is in central Russia. It's about 800 miles east of Moscow. Officials tell us that the amount of anthrax found in the mail was what they call negligible, that it actualy required two tests to even find it, so they don't think it's a large amount. One employee at the consulate has taking a course of antibiotics. They say as a precaution, he's not shown any symptoms. No one else they beleive is in any danger or is taking any medication at this point.

Now where this mail came from, authorities do know that it came from Washington. The source of the anthrax of course is not known, and that's what they'er looking into. But this bag of mail was part of the regular delivery that comes to the embassies, comes to consulates. It came from Washington. Officials here have been testing mail as a matter of course for quite some time now, ever since one of the employees in the Virginia headquarters of where the diplomatic mail comes from tested positive for the disease, and that testing we are told of course will continue.

As you know, Miles, anthrax-laced mail did show up in Lithuiania just a few days ago, but this would be the first time that it's actually been detected in Moscow -- or in Russia, I should say.

O'BRIEN: Colleen, can we just clarify one point, when you say mail, is this forwarded U.S. mail or interoffice type transmissions from the State Department to an outlying office?

MCEDWARSD: This is they call unclassified diplomatic mail, so this would be the regular course of mail that comes from Washington, it goes through mail headquarters in Virginia, and then it's sent on as part of regular deliveries to the consulates and the embassies in Russia. O'BRIEN: CNN's Colleen McEdwards in Moscow, thank you very much.

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