The US embassy in Berlin said this evening that German hazardous materials experts were trying to identify a white powder that spilled out of a letter addressed to the embassy and may have contaminated a postal worker.
An earlier report by a German news agency said the letter had been addressed to US Ambassador William Timken.
But a US embassy official said it was addressed to the US embassy without a name. Also, it was sent to the US consular offices in western Berlin, not the main building in eastern Berlin where Timken has his office.
"The letter is now being tested by the German health authorities' hazardous materials division," the US official said, adding that it would probably take at least several hours before any preliminary results were ready.
German police said the 48-year-old female postal worker who handled the letter had "tasted" it, though it was unclear how or why she had tasted it after it came out of the letter. The woman is currently in hospital undergoing tests.
"She's showing no ill effects," the US official said. A police spokesman said that there "are so far no signs of an attack."
In late 2001, five people in the US died when anthrax was sent in letters to media and government offices in Washington, Florida and elsewhere, raising fears of bio-terrorism at a time when Americans were still on edge after the September 11th attacks. Those cases have not been solved.
Since then there have been many anthrax scares around the world - false alarms and hoaxes caused by the discovery of various white powdery substances.