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CNN Live Today

Possible Leftover Anthrax Found

Aired May 09, 2002 - 14:41   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Apparently some mail belonging to the Federal Reserve has found traces of anthrax in it. They mention about 20 different pieces of mail. But what has not been concluded just yet, but authorities are leaning to this theory, that this anthrax is just a remainder of what broke out last fall.

Now we sit here, virtually eight months after the anthrax scare. There's still a lot that authorities do not know. But a new discovery may tell them where that anthrax was not made. For more on this, our science correspondent, Ann Kellan, has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN KELLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The anthrax that killed Florida photo editor Robert Stevens is helping scientists learn more about its genetics and could help the FBI narrow its search for the bioterrorist.

CLAIR FRASER, TIGR PRESIDENT: We did find new information. We did find informative markers. And some had suggested that we wouldn't find anything new.

KELLAN: Researchers at the Institute for Genomic Research, known by its acronym, TIGR, put the anthrax under the ultimate microscope and found subtle differences in the genetic code. That might be enough to crack the case.

The FBI already knew the anthrax used in the bioterror attacks was a garden variety, the Ames strain, used in labs throughout the United States since 1981. Coincidentally, TIGR scientists had been analyzing the entire code of the anthrax Ames stain.

When the anthrax attacks hit last fall, they stepped up to bat. They took their nearly complete anthrax analysis -- this is what it looks like -- and compared it to the anthrax that killed Stevens. Researchers found 11 differences -- not a lot, considering anthrax contains more than 5 million pieces of genetic code.

TIM READ, TIGR RESEARCHER: It's a cliche, but it is a needle in a haystack.

KELLAN: More significant, says TIGR researcher Tim Read, are differences discovered in another area of DNA called the plasmids, a separate chain of DNA that makes it anthrax poisonous. READ: This is part of the genome that changes more frequently than any other part.

KELLAN: Those changes could help distinguish one batch of anthrax from other.

READ: This is telling us that you can find changes that occur in a short period of time.

KELLAN (on camera): Would you say that's a key finding?

READ: Yes, that is a finding from the work. RE KELLAN: Knowing these genetic differences will help scientists develop better tests that they hope will differentiate one batch of anthrax strain from another. Will it be successful? No one knows.

(voice-over): Investigators like Paul Kim (ph), who has hundreds of Ames strain samples from all over the country at his lab, will use these study results to development more precise tests, to screen all the samples in his library to look for a match.

RON ATLAS, AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY: The fact we now have a number of sites in the genome to look at helps us eliminate some labs and concentrate on others.

KELLAN: A long shot, maybe. But in a case that has so far baffled investigators, any lead is worth pursuing. Ann Kellan, CNN, Rockville, Maryland.

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