NY anthrax 'indistinguishable' from others

The anthrax that killed a New York hospital worker has been found to be "indistinguishable" from spores detected in other victims…

The anthrax that killed a New York hospital worker has been found to be "indistinguishable" from spores detected in other victims caught in the wave of bioterror attacks hitting the United States, health officials said today.

On the basis of tests from "a number of cultures from the patient herself before she died, (the specimens) are indistinguishable from all of the others," Steve Ostroff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters.

The results from tests of the clothing worn by the victim, Kathy Nguyen, have so far proved negative after initial indications of anthrax traces, Ostroff said, adding that tests at her Bronx apartment had also proved negative.

Nasal swabs taken from 28 of Nguyen's co-workers "all came back negative," he said.

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Ostroff said definitive results were expected later today.

A colleague from the Manhattan Ear, Eye and Throat Hospital where Ms Nguyen worked has also "probably" been cleared for infection by skin anthrax after a biopsy was performed on a skin lesion she displayed yesterday, he said.

New York Health Commissioner Neal Cohen defended a decision not to close down Ms Nguyen's apartment building while keeping her workplace closed "until we can rule (anthrax contamination) out."

"That's a hospital facility where people go in for treatment, surgical procedures. It would be irresponsible to allow people to enter that facility without absolutely being sure," he said.

Ms Nguyen worked in a basement storeroom of the hospital near a mailroom, but there was no evidence she handled any mail and no further traces of anthrax have so far been found in the facility.

Ms Nguyen's death early yesterday - barely 48 hours after admitting herself to hospital - of respiratory anthrax brings to four the number of fatalities from the most lethal form of infection by the diseased spores. Her case has rattled investigators probing the bioterror wave in the United States because she had no known connection with the media, government offices or the postal service - the links behind most of the 14 other confirmed cases of anthrax in either its respiratory form or its more benign cutaneous form.

AFP