A mail facility that processes letters to the White House tested positive for anthrax, as officials confirmed today that the bacteria caused the death of two Washington postal workers.

White House press secretary Ari Fleisher announced this afternoon the discovery at a military facility "miles away" from the White House complex "The investigation is beginning and they are going to try to find the source of it," he said.
The mail facility processes all correspondence sent to the White House and to the Secret Service.

A small concentration of anthrax was detected on a mechanical device known as a "slitter," which is used to open mail, Fleischer said.

The facility has been closed for further testing and decontamination. All of its employees as well as workers at the mailroom on the White House grounds will be tested for anthrax.

Environmental tests at the White House have turned up negative for the bacteria.

Fleischer said the source of the anthrax was not immediately known and that all of the mail at the site would be tested. He would not disclose whether mail delivery to the White House had been suspended.

this is scary shit for me. one of my good friends and neighbors works for the post office delivering mail. if she gets it then my chances increase ten fold. does this anthrax scare hit close to home for anyone else?

Anthrax doesnt scare me at all, anthrax is the "rocket cola" of biowarfare, its cheap doesnt do the trick and everyone can get it, but usually noone does uless theyre realy against the wall.

now if it were smallpox, well yeah then id be worried.

it's ineffective when it's treated with cipro or penicillin, but if it is undetected then you die, just like the mail workers in washington d.c.

theyll use those two unfortunate deaths to whip everyone into a frenzy, to stock up on canned goods and bottled water and batteries, its all a ploy to help big buisness, just like every winter they claim before every storm here that its gonna be the worst since whenthefuckever, to scare everyone into hording. its all bullshit. if terrorists were using anthrax as a form of biowarfare then i must say thats a relief, cuz i thought it was going to be something worse. and i laugh at thier Jehad on us because Anthrax just wont do it.

plus its ineffective period. Anthrax doesnt spread well at all. you cant catch it from other people if they sneeze on you or whatever. you hafta come in contact with..."the white powder".
thats why i said, if they used smallpox which is very contageous, and airborn, i would be scared to hell. cuz one person can infect a whole room of people.

Arsinik: If your friend is afraid of catching anthrax, tell her to eat loads of fresh garlic...it may not make her very popular, but in one test garlic was found to be a more potent antibiotic than penicillin, ampicillin, doxycycline, streptomycin and cephalexin, some of the very same antibiotic drugs used in the treatment of anthrax.

Also, sulfur-bearing antioxidants (alpha lipoic acid, N-acetyl cysteine, taurine) and vitamin C, which elevate levels of glutathione, a natural antioxidant within the body, counters the toxicity produced by anthrax.

The current strain of Anthrax being sent around the states right now is genetically altered in a lab to make the substance more air-borne. That means, someone somewhere engineered this shit to kill as many as possible. Luckily, the original product was such a low grade that it isn't really killing that many people.
Most higher ranking government offices are now getting smallpox vaccines because of the possible threat that whoever is doing the Anthrax shit will also try something a bit more powerful. But of course, the common public is left to their own wiles while the government is protected. Figures, huh?
But as for the main question of the thread, I think that this is all too real, as I, like your friend work with the mail. Only I'm in an actual government building. I don't worry about it too much, but the thought is always there, you know, laying in the back of you mind. What if it comes through here? Will I die?
Mildly scary, I'd say...

my friends mother works in the post office... so if something airborne happens i'm pretty much having a good chance of getting it since i spend alot of time with my friend..