Postal Service Begins Assault on Anthrax

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On the same day that federal investigators released the text of several letters infected with anthrax, the U.S. Postal Services has begun a counteroffensive with quarantines, post cards and an additional $175 million for security approved by President Bush, news services reported.

The three letters that the Justice Department released on Wednesday were all dated "9-11-01" and shared the same block-style lettering, the Associated Press reported. Contained in the text was anti-American and anti-Israeli language.

The AP reported that the U.S. Postal Service is looking into irradiation equipment, similar to what is used by the food industry. Postal employees are being issued protective clothing and the antibiotic Cipro in Washington, New York and other cities, news services said.

Also in Washington, the USPS has begun sanitizing its fleet of trucks based at the Brentwood facility, the main processing center for mail in Washington, D.C., news services reported.

The USPS has quarantined all mail at the Brentwood facility where two employees are thought to have contracted, and died from, the inhalation form of anthrax, the Washington Post reported.

The U.S. Postal Service announced it is sending millions postcards to its customers, warning them of the dangers of anthrax, but also to calm fears about the disease.

The action is part of a campaign to restore confidence in a mail system that has been shaken by the outbreak of anthrax.

Since two D.C. postal workers died Tuesday of inhalation anthrax, three more employees have been hospitalized with symptoms of the disease -- one in New Jersey and two in Washington. Several of the infected mailings were postmarked from Trenton, N.J.

In facilities around the United States, any indication of flu-like symptoms, the earliest warning of anthrax infection, are grounds for closing USPS facilities. Despite a lack of positive tests, a postal maintenance facility was closed in Topeka, Kan., according to a local television station.

Federal investigators are comparing samples of the anthrax mailed to Sen. Tom Daschle (D – S.D.) and several news organizations, with samples of chemicals from biological weapons from Iraq and the former Soviet Union, USA Today reported.

Investigators are looking for chemical markers to determine where the anthrax may have come from. Officials warned that even if a link is discovered, it does not mean that the attacks are state-sponsored.

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