Processing center equipped to detect anthrax in mail

The mail processing center in Cape Girardeau will be outfitted with high-tech equipment to detect deadly anthrax, part of the postal service's nationwide effort to combat bioterrorism.

Postal officials announced Thursday that the equipment will be installed and put into operation at the center at 475 Kell Farm Drive by June 18.

It will be added to the automated equipment that processes the mail. The device uses sophisticated DNA matching to detect the presence of anthrax in the mail. The equipment collects samples of air as the mail moves through a canceling machine.

The anthrax detection device mixes air samples with sterile water and then automatically tests the DNA to determine if anthrax is present, postal officials said.

Anthrax killed two postal workers in 2001 and caused temporary shutdowns of government buildings in Washington.

If anthrax is detected in the Cape Girardeau mail center, the building would be evacuated, Cape Girardeau postmaster Mike Keefe said.

Emergency response

Firefighters and other emergency personnel trained in bioterrorism would respond to the scene, he said.

Postal employees who might have been exposed to anthrax would have to be decontaminated and medication would have to be dispensed, officials said.

If operations are suspended, mail would be diverted to other mail processing facilities. "It will impact us, but it won't stop us," Keefe said.

The postal service is spending more than $500 million on installing the equipment in mail processing centers nationwide, officials said.

Keefe said the goal is to protect both the public and postal workers.

Anthrax can be deadly when inhaled, but is of little health risk just from physical contact, he said.

As a result, the equipment is focused on detecting anthrax that might end up in the air when mail is pinched by automated equipment as part of the regular sorting process, Keefe said.

Clear plastic coverings already have been placed over some of the equipment that processes mail in the Cape Girardeau facility to help guard against workers inhaling anthrax if mail is contaminated by bioterrorists, he said.

The new device will make the processing center even safer, Keefe said.

More than 200 mail processing centers nationwide are being outfitted with the anthrax-detection equipment, officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123