Mycroft
High Priest of Ed
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2003
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Pentagon Mail Facility Tests Positive for Anthrax
Samples taken at a Pentagon mail facility have tested positive for anthrax, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services reported today, but officials do not yet know if the anthrax bacteria were live and thus capable of transmitting disease.
The spokesman, Bill Hall, said that further tests are being conducted at Fort Detrick to determine if the anthrax was live or if it was just a component of anthrax. Such testing normally takes 24 to 48 hours, but initial tests may be available by this afternoon. The anthrax confirmation was done through intricate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing overnight and confirmed the alert initially reported by a defense contractor laboratory in Richmond last week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35943-2005Mar15.html