Per CNN: A 51-year old New Jersey woman who lives near the Hamilton Township postal facility but does not work for the postal service has cutaneous anthrax, health officials said today. Meanwhile, a second New Jersey postal worker has been confirmed with inhalation anthrax.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Answers

Helen, here is the possible answer to the $64,000 question that you posed on another threat about postal customers getting Anthrax.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

However, that woman is the mail handler for a business. Don't know what the business is. Will post if I see something more on this.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Ah, so! And that's the "rest of the story."

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

if youwill forgive me, I shall point out that the first anthrax death was not a postal worker, and the second person infected was the mail room guy at that business.

so, customers got it first. The workers got it from the dregs of the mail in the equipment, mostly, along with the possibility of handling it.

The letter carrier probably got as she was emptying her mailbag. Those things can get really scrungy inside. And I would think they would be required to clean them out, but since I am not a letter carrier I don't know for certain.

The samplings of the facilities that turned up hot spots where on equipment inside the plants. A bin on a flat sorter here, another on the DBCS [letter sorter] there. It isn't really like there was a pile of the powder sitting on the floor for the samplers to find. We do have quite a staff of maintenance workers who go around all day long sweeping and mopping and stuff. They do a great job of it, and I always try to remember to thank them, especially when they are doing the bathrooms! Why can't some of these guys aim? Thank god they don't have guns or we'd all be dead!

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001