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American Morning

Ask CNN: How Likely a Threat Is It That Anthrax Letters Could Contaminate My Mail?

Aired December 19, 2001 - 07:52   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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRESEDA FRANCIS, ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Hi. My name is Creseda Francis, and I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. And my question to CNN is: How likely a threat is it that anthrax letters could contaminate my mail?

DEBORAH WHILLHITE, SR. VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE: That is a particularly high concern of people right now, and it's something that the CDC and the Postal Service has been in discussions about, because of the CDC's concern of cross-contamination in the mail.

Even with the new information, the CDC does not believe that there is a very high risk of contamination of anthrax and most Americans know, and that the chance that an anthrax spore that has gotten onto mail by cross-contamination could cause disease is very, very low.

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