Anthrax fears gripped the United States today after new cases of the bacteria were revealed.
The latest incidents come as the United States conducted its heaviest bombing of the nine-day air war. There are also growing signs of unease around the world that civilians are being caught in the air raids.
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Cypriot firemen shovel up specimens of a suspect substance found in Nicosia's muncipal gardens today as fears of anthrax poisoning are running high worldwide. The markings in the garden were believed to be flour left by a local running club, police sources said.
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The anthrax scare in America reached new heights yesterday with news that a letter containing the bacteria was received by Senate Majority Leader Mr Tom Daschle's office in Washington.
President Bush has indicated Osama bin Laden may be to blame.
The concern over anthrax spread to Canada's parliament and German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schroeder's office in Berlin as well as to France, Switzerland, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand and Israel.
But the United States remains the only country where there have been recent confirmed outbreaks.
Deepening concern that began this month with the death of a man from anthrax in Florida, US authorities announced the discovery of the bacteria in Daschle's office and two new cases of infections.
The new infections involved a child of an employee of the ABC television network and in a colleague of the man who died in Florida.
They were the latest in a series of cases involving letters containing the bacteria mailed to locations in Florida, Nevada, New York and Washington in envelopes postmarked from as far away as Malaysia.
The ABC case, involving a baby boy in New York who was in ABC's offices in New York on September 28th, came just days after a woman who works at NBC became ill in the city with anthrax.
More than 10 others have tested positive for exposure to the bacteria, and tests have been performed on more than 1,000 people who may have come in contact with anthrax.
New York Mayor Mr Rudolph Giuliani told a news conference that because of the ABC case, investigators would visit major news organisations based in New York as a precaution.
Following the discovery of anthrax in the office of Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, tours of congressional sites were cancelled, and mailrooms of members of Congress joined many businesses across the country in taking extra precautions in handling letters and packages.