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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anthrax Scare: More Exposures in New York, Possible Exposures in Boston and New Jersey

Aired October 15, 2001 - 08:09   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And in the homeland, the anthrax investigation expands amid growing concern about bioterrorism. An editor at the Boston Globe is now awaiting anthrax test results after receiving a suspicious letter similar to the one received by "The New York Times".

Back here in New York, three more people are now being treated for possible anthrax systems -- symptoms, that is, that as authorities trace the origins of a letter to NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw.

Our own Jason Carroll is at Rockefeller Center in New York with the latest on that investigation. Good morning again Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you Paula. Yesterday New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that three people who were investigating the anthrax scare here at NBC were in fact exposed to anthrax spores. A police officer and two lab technicians who handled the letter were exposed to a very small number of spores, but that does not mean that they were infected with the disease.

Health officials say that it would take a person being exposed to thousand of anthrax spores in order to become infected. Also yesterday, Andrew Lack, NBC President, announced that the network is nearing the end of this crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ANDREW LACK, PRESIDENT OF NBC News: We have some good news, some very important news. We've just been told by the Department of Health that as three weeks now have passed since the letter that arrived or was postmarked on September 18th, which we've identified as the source of the anthrax. Since three weeks now, over three weeks has passed since that time. If you were going to get sick or ill from anthrax, it would have happened already.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CARROLL: And right now you are looking at a live picture coming to us from Hamilton, New Jersey. This is a significant part of the story as well. The letter in question that was postmarked on September 18th came from Trenton, New Jersey, which is nearby, but it was processed at the mail center that you see there in Hamilton . We are told that three people there at that mail center are being tested for exposure as well. Just to backtrack a little bit here, the letter in question was initially addressed to NBC Anchor Tom Brokaw. So far, his assistant is the only person to date who has come down with an official case of anthrax and that person has a cutaneous form of the disease and is being treated with antibiotics. Paula.

ZAHN: Jason Carroll, thanks so much.

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