October 8, 2001 BOCA RATON, Florida (AP) - Anthrax has been detected in a co-worker of a man who died after contracting a rare inhaled form of the disease, and tests at the building where both worked have found evidence of the bacterium, authorities said.
A nasal swab from the man, whose name was not immediately made public, tested positive for the anthrax bacterium, said the regional spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, Tim O'Conner, Monday.
It was not yet clear if anthrax had spread to his lungs, or if he had a full-blown case of the disease. The man was in stable condition at an unidentified hospital, according to both the Florida and North Carolina health departments.
His co-worker, Bob Stevens, had recently visited North Carolina. Stevens died Friday, the first person in 25 years in the United States to have died from an inhaled form of anthrax.
News that Stevens had contracted the disease set off fears of bioterrorism, especially when it was revealed that Middle Eastern men were believed to have recently visited an airfield about 40 miles (64 km) from Stevens's home in Lantana, and to have asked about crop-dusters.
O'Conner said he couldn't say that the second case was related to terrorism. "That would take a turn in the investigation," said O'Conner. "We were thinking more of environmental sources."
Stevens, 63, was a photo editor at the supermarket tabloid The Sun. Environmental tests performed at the Sun's offices in Boca Raton have detected the anthrax bacteria, said O'Conner.
The Sun's offices have been closed off, and law enforcement, local and state health and CDC officials were to take additional samples from the building on Monday, O'Conner said.
About 300 people who work in the building are being contacted by the Sun and instructed not to come to work Monday and to undergo antibiotic treatment to prevent the disease.
The FBI was helping in the search for the source of the bacterium, said Miami FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela. But "the current risk of anthrax is extremely low," O'Conner said.
It was unclear when the final tests would tell whether or not the second man had anthrax. The bacterium normally has an incubation period of up to seven days, but could take up to 60 days to develop, O'Conner said.
"We're waiting for additional testing to see if it will become a confirmed case of anthrax or not," said Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Michael Kahane, vice president and general counsel of American Media Inc., which publishes the Sun and two other tabloids, the Globe and the National Enquirer, confirmed the company had closed its Boca Raton building at the request of state health officials.
"We are cooperating with the department of health and all other governmental agencies investigating this matter," he said Monday. "Obviously, our first concern is the health and well-being of our employees and their families."
Only 18 inhalation cases in the United States were documented in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. State records show the last anthrax case in Florida was in 1974.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
