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CNN Sunday Morning

Microsoft Envelope Tests Positive for Anthrax

Aired October 14, 2001 - 07:08   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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Suspicions about a strange letter delivered to Microsoft, a subsidiary in Nevada have proven justified. Health experts say materials in that envelop tested positive for anthrax bacteria.

CNN's James Hattori has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an announcement Nevada's governor could not have enjoyed making.

GOVERNOR KENNY QUINN, NEVADA: We do have the results of the third test from our state testing lab and the results are that it's positive.

HATTORI: Tests completed Saturday confirmed a suspicious letter delivered to a Reno office occupied by the Microsoft Corporation contained anthrax bacteria.

(on-camera): The letter was originally sent from Microsoft here in Reno. It contained a check, payment for a company in Malaysia, a country where Al Qaeda terrorists are known to operated. But the letter was returned after someone tampered with it. Inside, beside the check, some clippings from pornographic magazines stained as if from some liquid. That's where the anthrax was detected.

(voice-over): Local health officials say six Microsoft employees may have handled or come in close proximity to the letter. They are being tested but so far none has become ill.

QUINN: You can touch it but if you don't have something opening and you don't move it to your mouth, then you could wash it off.

HATTORI: Health officials have forwarded a sample of the anthrax to the Centers for Disease Control labs in Atlanta for more testing. In the meantime, state and local officials stress the health risk to the public is very, very low.

James Hattori, CNN, Carson City, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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