Mailbag sent to U.S. consulate in Russia tests positive

MOSCOW (AP) -- A diplomatic mailbag sent from Washington to the U.S. consulate in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg tested positive for anthrax spores, consular officials said Tuesday.

The consulate asked the Russian State Center for Medical-Epidemiological Control to test six mailbags after an employee of the State Department's mail facility in Virginia was diagnosed with anthrax on Oct 25.

The first round of tests uncovered no traces of anthrax, but a second test found spores in one of the bags, a consulate statement said.

"We understand that since two tests were required to detect spores, the amount of anthrax in the bag was negligible," the statement said.

One employee at the consulate has been taking antibiotics to ward off the disease, but he has not shown any symptoms. None of the few dozen employees has displayed any anthrax or flu-like symptoms, the statement said.

The area of the consulate where the mailbag had been stored was thoroughly cleaned on Oct. 26 and will be cleaned again as a precaution, a consular spokesperson said.

The source of the anthrax was unclear, and the consulate did not say whether anyone outside the consulate had contact with the mailbag.

The consulate is continuing to work full-time as usual, the spokesperson said.

The incident occurred in a city that housed a Soviet-era germ warfare laboratory that produced anthrax, and where an accident in 1979 released spores that killed at least 68 people. Russian officials have insisted Russia could not be the source of anthrax spores now circulating in the United States.

Four people in the United States have died of inhalation anthrax since the attacks started in September. The State Department mail facility was one of more than a dozen in the United States where anthrax has been found.

A top Russian health official said that as of last week, 252 envelopes containing suspicious white powder had been received in Russia, but none of them have proved to contain anthrax.