The discovery of anthrax spores in the Manhattan offices of New York Governor, Mr George Pataki, ratcheted up tension in an already nervous city yesterday. The governor's offices have been closed until Monday and workers given antibiotics as a precaution.
New York's 28,000 postal workers have been issued with latex gloves and masks amid fears that envelopes containing the deadly virus might still be undelivered.
The postal service has been struggling to cope with a backlog of mail since the attack on the World Trade centre. Some letters have yet to be sorted which may have been posted around the same time as packages containing anthrax were sent to two network news headquarters.
About 80 employees were evacuated from Governor Pataki's offices on the 38th and 39th floors of 633 Third Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets, after an initial test for anthrax proved positive in a secure police room to which the public did not have access.
No workers in the governor's office tested positive for anthrax but all of them, including Mr Pataki, are being given the antibiotic drug, Cipro, as a precaution. "I feel fine," the governor assured reporters yesterday. "I feel great." It is not known how the anthrax was brought into the office but state police using the room had been involved in the earlier investigation into anthrax reports at NBC and ABC, Mr Pataki said, suggesting it may have arrived in his office that way.
However, Mr Pataki said his secretary had received a letter on September 25th that she became concerned about, and it was turned over to the state police. Tests on her and two mail handlers for anthrax proved negative at the time, he said. "We don't believe that envelope was the source of the anthrax, but we don't know," he said.
The presence of anthrax in the governor's office was discovered after tests were ordered on Monday night in public offices throughout Manhattan in response to heightened concerns in news organisations and post offices.
New York is on edge, with many people avoiding the subway over fears of a biological warfare attack. The sight of police and scientists in moon suits sealing off city offices and streets has added to a feeling of heightened apprehension. Security at all public and high-rise buildings is so thorough that long queues spill out into the streets.
Two separate cases of anthrax have been confirmed in Manhattan so far. The first was at the 70-storey General Electric building that houses NBC network news in Rockefeller Center. Ms Erin O'Connor, secretary of anchorman Mr Tom Brokaw, became infected after opening a letter containing white powder.
The second case of anthrax in the city was confirmed on Monday in a seven-month-old baby boy who had been at ABC news where his mother works as a producer. Both have the relatively mild form of anthrax, contracted through the skin, and are expected to fully recover.
About 100 ABC employees have been tested for contamination. The ABC building "is the focus of the investigation but it's not clear whether that's where the exposure took place," said Ms Sandra Mullin, spokeswoman for the city's health department. ABC spokesman, Mr Todd Polkes, said the infant and its mother spent time in newsroom offices while they attended a birthday party last month for an employee.
Three other people tested positive for anthrax exposure: two New York lab technicians and one policeman who worked on the NBC case.
The governor's offices will remain closed until early next week, said Mr Pataki, whose main offices are in the state capital of Albany.