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FBI Investigating Anthrax Cases as Fourth Person Diagnosed

Aired October 12, 2001 - 12:58   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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: I do want to bring in now our Justice correspondent Kelli Arena.

Kelli, you talked the these people at Justice, at the FBI all the time. How are they approaching this story?

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Judy, I can tell you that in many instances, law enforcement is overwhelmed because there are so many reports come in that are hoaxes. As Frank said, unfortunately, that is something we are going to face in the weeks to come.

They are, however, being very cautious, and sometimes overcautious in terms of testing, responding and trying to prioritize who they respond to very aggressively. This investigation in its very early stages is very aggressive. They will be testing any employee at NBC headquarters who may have been exposed to any anthrax spores. They have obviously shut down certain parts of the building. We know that investigators are meeting with investigators who are working on the Florida anthrax cases to see if there's any connection whatsoever between the anthrax exposure in New York City and Florida, and obviously, retracing steps to make sure there is no connection that they can come up with the September 11th attacks.

And I will say so far, sources have told us they have found no connection between any of the anthrax cases that have been uncovered so far and September 11th attacks, but given the timing, given the circumstances, obviously they're looking for any connection that they can make.

WOODRUFF: And given the fact we have a fourth person who has been identified as being exposed to anthrax, and she contracted the skin type, the type that goes through the skin, which is not as lethal as the inhaled kind, but still it's anthrax which has made everybody sit up and take notice, and one can only hope that there's enough law enforcement officials to move around, investigators to move around, to places like "The New York Times," where we told a suspicious letter, CBS. We don't know whether there's anything there, but many, many threads of the story to follow today.

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