NY Post employee has skin anthrax

Associated Press WriterNEW YORK (AP) -- A New York Post employee has contracted skin anthrax, a television station affiliated with the newspaper reported Friday.

The woman had been tested with 10 other employees considered at high risk but the first test came up negative because she was on antibiotics for an unrelated illness, WNYW-TV reported.

The publisher's statement said the victim was "already regarded as cured," according to WNYW.

It's the fourth anthrax case in New York City, all involving media companies, and the seventh nationwide in the weeks since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The woman, whose name was not made public, works at the News Corp. building at 1211 Sixth Ave. WNYW said no other cases have been found at the building, which also is the headquarters for Fox News. The Fox television station and the newspaper are owned by News Corp., a worldwide media organization headed by Rupert Murdoch.

Post spokeswoman Suzanne Halpin said she could not confirm the report. A call to the office of Post Publisher Ken Chandler was referred to a different corporate spokesman, who did not immediately return a call for comment.

WNYW said it was not known how the employee came into contact with the anthrax. The building was one of several media headquarters in Manhattan checked by police and the Health Department for the presence of anthrax over the past week.

Chandler issued a statement to employees saying "everything that has been done has been done in accordance with what should be done and no one should worry because they found nothing else to worry about," WNYW said.

Experts are conducting environmental tests and a criminal investigation is under way at the CBS Broadcast Center, where a woman who works in anchorman Dan Rather's office was diagnosed with the skin form of anthrax.

The CBS employee, Claire Fletcher, 27, is being treated but has continued to work, and network officials said Thursday she feels fine. Rather said his colleague doesn't remember receiving any suspicious packages.

The source of the bacteria was still being sought, but city Health Commissioner Neal Cohen said "it makes sense" to suspect that it was delivered in an envelope. Cohen noted that Fletcher works with mail and her case resembles an anthrax infection at NBC headquarters in New York.

Officials said there was no danger to employees or the public.

"Our biggest problem today is not anthrax," Rather said. "Our biggest problem is fear. ... We are resolute, we will not flinch, we will not bend, we will not swerve."

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, trying to ease public fears, emphasized that 17 days had passed since the appearance of Fletcher's symptoms -- a slight swelling in her cheek -- and that no one else at CBS had been affected.

He also pointed out that two other New York skin anthrax victims -- an assistant to NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw and a baby whose mother had taken him to ABC News headquarters -- were recovering.

"This all supports the conclusion you would draw from there being no other people with symptoms, and that is that there has been no spread," Giuliani said.

The woman's father, Bernard Fletcher, was interviewed at his home in England.

"Her main reaction is she's a bit annoyed because the press in Manhattan have been camped out on her doorstep and so she's had to move out of her flat," he said. "Obviously she was worried about the disease, but she's been assured she will make a full recovery."

Officials said Fletcher began treatment Oct. 4 by taking penicillin. When the NBC case became known, she was tested for anthrax and later had a biopsy, which came back positive for anthrax early Thursday.

Rather said Fletcher is a triathlete and, "in addition to working every day, she has worked out every day except one," despite the disease.

Three other people in the United States have been infected with anthrax, including a Florida man who died, his colleague, and a New Jersey postal worker who may have handled letters sent to Brokaw and to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

More than 30 other people in Florida, Washington and New York have tested positive for anthrax exposure.

Rather said he had no plans to be tested and was not taking medication. Brokaw has said he is taking antibiotics.

The CBS case to light came a day after samples taken from Gov. George Pataki's New York City office tested positive for anthrax bacteria. No employees there have tested positive for the disease.