The U.S. House of Representatives suspended work and three Senate office buildings were closed Wednesday as congressional leaders announced that 26 Senate staffers and five police officers had been exposed to anthrax spores that arrived in the office mail of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Monday.
Three workers in the office of Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., were among those exposed to anthrax spores, likely as a result of their proximity to Daschle's office.
Although no one has fallen ill from the anthrax sent to Daschle's office, Wednesday's disclosures about the number of people who have been exposed to the spores on Capitol Hill deepened the sense of alarm in Washington, D.C., and across the nation.
News of the exposures caused some degree of confusion in the Capitol as well as a rift between House and Senate leaders who seemed to have a different take on the situation. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., generated a wave of anxiety when he announced erroneously that investigators had found anthrax 'in the ventilation system.'
New York Gov. George Pataki announced Wednesday that tests confirmed anthrax had been found inside the office of his security detail on Third Avenue. That discovery prompted Pataki to order the offices evacuated Wednesday and to start taking antibiotics along with 75 to 80 of his workers 'as a precaution,' he said.
As the FBI chased down hundreds of scares and hoaxes across the United States, authorities said Tuesday they found similarities between an anthrax letter at NBC in New York and one that turned up in the office of Daschle, which bore very refined and highly dangerous spores.
'It was a very strong form of anthrax,' Daschle said, 'a very potent form of anthrax that clearly was produced by somebody who knew what he or she was doing.'
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson Wednesday requested $1.9 billion in emergency funds from Congress for public health responses to bioterrorism, the bulk to purchase one drug and a vaccine. The emphasis on purchase of the antibiotic ciprofloxicin from Bayer drew concern from health experts, including the World Health Organization.
