Saturday, October 27, 2001, 21:30 EDT (9:30 PM EDT)
CDCHAN-00048-2001-10-27-UPD-N
CDC Statement Regarding Postal and Other Mailroom Facilities in the Metropolitan Washington DC Area
An ongoing investigation has identified a total of 5
mailroom employees with inhalational anthrax from two mailroom facilities (US
Postal Service Washington DC Processing and
No cases of inhalational or cutaneous anthrax have been reported among customers who entered any US Postal facility to purchase stamps or conduct other postal business.
The CDC continues to recommend that all people who have been in the non-public, mail operations areas of the Brentwood and State Department facilities (the two facilities with inhalation anthrax cases) since October 11, 2001, receive 60-days of prophylaxis for potential exposure to anthrax. These facilities remain closed pending the results of comprehensive environmental sampling and determination of requisite remediation. In addition, the mail facilities that supply the CIA, House office buildings, Supreme Court, WRAIR, White House, and Southwest postal facilities (with confirmed environmental swabs for B anthracis) have been closed for remediation. All workers in those buildings should complete a 60-day course of prophylaxis.
Health authorities in the Metropolitan Washington area,
based on the Postal Service's mailstream flow, also recommend prophylaxis for
all personnel who have worked, since
Results of the anti-microbial susceptibility profiles from
A number of drug distribution sites have been established in
the Washington DC Metropolitan area for persons in the above groups as listed
below. Persons may also contact the
1)
a. DC
b. Federal
employees --
2)
a. Fairfax County Government Center, 2nd floor, 12000 Government Center Pkwy, Fairfax, 9:00am to 10:00pm today.
b. Loudoun County Health
Department,
c. Prince William County
Health Department,
d. For more information
(in
3)
a.
b. Suburban Maryland Processing and Distribution Center, Shady Grove Road, Gaithersburg, 10:00am to 2:00pm this weekend and noon to 7:00pm, M-F.
c. Federal employees -- Denis Avenue Health Center, 2000 Dennis Ave, Silver Spring, 10:00am to 2:00pm this weekend and noon to 7:00pm, M-F.
CDC's investigation is ongoing. Future modifications to these recommendations may occur on the basis of new epidemiologic and laboratory information.
HAN Message Types
- Health Alert: Conveys the highest level of importance; warrants immediate action or attention. Example: HAN00001
- Health Advisory: Provides important information for a specific incident or situation; may not require immediate action. Example: HAN00316
- Health Update: Provides updated information regarding an incident or situation; unlikely to require immediate action. Example: HAN00309
- Info Service: Provides general information that is not necessarily considered to be of an emergent nature. Example: HAN00319
## This Message was distributed to State and Local Health Officers, Public Information Officers, Epidemiologists and HAN Coordinators as well as Clinician organizations ##
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- Content source: CDC Emergency Risk Communication Branch (ERCB), Division of Emergency Operations (DEO), Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR)
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