Two Missouri anthrax connections investigated

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri health department is investigating whether two Missourians were exposed to anthrax through a Florida company.

The state Department of Health and Senior Services also has notified the FBI and officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who are working with the investigation in Florida, department director Maureen Dempsey said Tuesday.

One man died and anthrax was found in the nose of a second employee and on a computer keyboard in the offices of American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla.

Federal officials suspect foul play, rather than an environmental source, caused the anthrax cases.

A St. Louis area resident contacted the state health agency and said he had been in the Florida building for two days in early August, which is within the timeframe that is being investigated for exposure.

Dempsey said the department requested that the person's physician take samples from the patient's nasal passages that will be tested at the State Public Health Laboratory in Jefferson City. The agency also recommended the individual begin taking preventive antibiotics.

In a second report, a Kansas City resident who works for the same Missouri business said computer equipment had been shipped to him from the Florida building.

The state agency recommended testing computer equipment for anthrax spores.

Neither person was identified by the department.

Dempsey said the department will release the results of the laboratory tests when they become available, which could be before the end of the week.

But Dempsey said most Missourians are not at risk.

"Anthrax is not contagious. The illness is not transmitted person to person," she said.