Locally, reports turn up empty

By Aaron Nicodemus, Standard-Times staff writer

Area police and firefighters responded to dozens of calls yesterday about suspicious white powders that people worried might be anthrax.

So far, none of the powders has turned out to be dangerous. No one has been admitted to St. Luke's Hospital for exposure to anthrax, not even as a precaution, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

The state's Department of Public Health tested 60 items from across the state over the weekend, mostly letters -- but also VCRs and pizza boxes -- for anthrax. So far, all have tested negative. Results of tests on materials collected yesterday, including those from SouthCoast, were not yet available.

Nervous SouthCoast residents were not taking any chances yesterday.

Yesterday began with a call from New Bedford High School about a suspicious briefcase that had been left unattended. After local police and the state bomb squad investigated, the briefcase was found to be empty.

About a half-hour later, a Verizon employee at the company's switching station in downtown New Bedford called to say that an inter-office letter she received was covered with a white powder.

The hazardous material response team of the New Bedford Fire Department arrived, and one firefighter dressed in a "haz-mat" suit took the letter and sealed it in a purple plastic bag. The firefighter's suit and the letter were sent to the state Department of Public Health for testing.

Employees at the AT&T Customer Service and Sales Center in Fairhaven were evacuated just before lunch when workers found powder in two bathrooms. The state's hazardous material response team was called in to seal off the building, clean up the suspicious material and test it.

Antone Souza, executive director of the Waterfront Historic Area League, said his organization received a suspicious letter from Africa addressed to WHALE's old address on William Street. "It was a strange-looking letter, airmailed from a country in Africa," he said. "It didn't have a return address, and I could see there was paper folded up inside it. It was probably nothing, but I didn't want to take the chance." Police sealed the letter and delivered it to the state for testing.

"People are reacting to rumor and the fear," said New Bedford Police Chief Arthur J. Kelly III. "We've been inundated with people who have real concerns."

Chief Kelly said the department has responded to at least 20 such calls in 24 hours. Some calls were easier to dismiss than others, such as the woman who called to report suspicious white material on her car. Chief Kelly said the police officer who responded pointed out to the woman that the white material was also on the ground near her car, and looked an awful lot like bird droppings.

But other complaints required police to take packages or letters from the person's home, seal them and have them tested.

"The message I have for people is, if you're not expecting it, or if you have any doubts about it, don't open it," Chief Kelly said. He encouraged people to try to figure out where any suspicious letters came from by asking the person if they indeed sent it.

"There is no law that you have to open your mail," Chief Kelly said. "If you're suspicious of it after you check with whomever sent it, we will collect it and have it tested."

The anthrax scare began in Florida two weeks ago when a photo editor at a supermarket tabloid office died after inhaling anthrax spores that were mailed to the newspaper. Five other employees at American Media Inc. have been exposed to anthrax bacteria and have been put on antibiotics as a precaution.

More recently, an employee at NBC News in New York City contracted cutaneous anthrax after opening a letter addressed to news anchor Tom Brokaw that contained the bacteria. In Nevada, a letter received at a Microsoft Inc. office tested positive for the bacteria. Yesterday, a letter that contained a substance that tested positive for anthrax was mailed to the office of U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anthrax organisms "can cause infection in the skin, gastrointestinal system or the lungs. To do, so the organism must be rubbed into abraded skin, swallowed, or inhaled as a fine, aerosolized mist. Disease can be prevented after exposure to the anthrax spores by early treatment with the appropriate antibiotics. Anthrax is not spread from one person to another person."

The CDC said that "if the small anthrax particles are inhaled, life-threatening lung infection can occur, but prompt recognition and treatment are effective."

Bal Ram Singh, a professor of biophysical chemistry at UMass Dartmouth, said the most likely way anthrax would be mailed would be in the form of spores, which could remain stable in an envelope or package for months. If somehow ingested, anthrax can be treated effectively with antibiotics, he said, even if the spores are inhaled. He said anthrax usually takes several days -- and in some cases, longer -- to do enough damage to kill someone.

The anthrax scare has local officials planning for all possibilities, and worried that their resources will be stretched thin while responding to a flood of calls.

"We're establishing guidelines to deal particularly with white, powdery substances," said Fairhaven Police Chief Edward Silva, who met with health and fire officials to discuss the town's response to possible anthrax contamination. "We are being more vigilant because people are concerned. I don't think anyone would pick up an envelope right now without being concerned."

Westport has already had its share of anthrax scares, said Police Chief Michael Healy. When the town's health center mistakenly received a letter from the Middle East addressed to an Islamic-sounding name, there was a panicked reaction from the staff, he said.

"We picked it up and sent it the FBI," he said. "We get there first, and then get it to the proper authorities. We're not really trained in terrorism, we're trained in crime prevention."

Chief Healy said that responding to calls about possible anthrax contamination does take time, and he worried that people are overreacting. "When we responded to a woman who was concerned about a parcel that was delivered to her house, we spent five hours there and blocked off the road," he said. "People feel comfortable when we respond." And, he said, the department is taking all calls seriously.

Although Acushnet has not had any calls, Police Chief Michael Poitras said town officials have adopted a policy coordinating the response of the Police, Fire and Health departments to deal with the threat. "This is really unprecedented in our history, dealing with a biological threat in the mail," he said. "It does tend to make everybody antsy."

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