Document text
--> --> Hospital worker tests positive for inhalation anthrax NEW YORK (AP) - A 61-year-old hospital worker is "struggling for her survival" after preliminarily testing positive for the dangerous inhalation anthrax, the city health commissioner said today. The source of the infection is not known. Some environmental samples from the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital have come back negative, while others are pending, and no one else is showing signs of the disease, said Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The cause of the infection was not immediately confirmed, but Giuliani said it was assumed to be anthrax. In Florida, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., three people have died from inhaled anthrax, three others have confirmed cases, and one has recovered. In Boca Raton, Fla., Monday, members of the Coast Guard National Strike Force team collected swab samples from the offices of American Media, Inc, where a photo editor died from inhaled anthrax last month. Other hospitals in New York City have been alerted "to take precautions ... and share their findings with us," Health Commissioner Neal Cohen said. Dr. Steven Ostroff of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the case was troubling because it is the first in New York involving the inhalation form of the disease and because unlike all New York's other anthrax cases, "There's no clear linkage with the mail." The woman started feeling ill on Thursday and entered the hospital on Sunday, authorities said. They were alerted to the case Monday and announced it late in the day. "There was a rapid progression from Saturday to Sunday," Cohen said. Cohen said antibiotics would be offered to anyone who might have encountered the woman dating back to Oct. 11, two weeks before the onset of her symptoms. The mayor said about 200 people work in the hospital and that hundreds if not thousands of patients had come through in that time. On Monday, a postal union filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service to force the closing of New York's biggest mail-sorting center for testing. "We're simply asking the post office to close the building and make sure it's safe," William Smith, the union president said of the 2-million-square-foot Morgan Processing and Distribution Center. "Test everybody and tell us they haven't been exposed. If that's not done, we shouldn't be in that building." The Postal Service announced that absenteeism there had climbed to nearly 30 percent since traces of anthrax were found on sorting machines. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing