Anthrax spores found on 3 more in NYC

NEW YORK -- A police officer and two lab technicians involved in detecting the case of anthrax in an NBC employee are being treated with antibiotics for exposure to the bacteria, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Sunday. \n"When they were tested, minuscule spores were found,'' Giuliani said at a news conference. \nThe mayor emphasized that exposure to the spores does not necessarily mean infection and said the three are expected to be fine. Their identities were not released. \n"They are being treated," he said. "This does not mean they have anthrax.'' \nGiuliani said the police officer who retrieved an envelope containing anthrax at NBC Friday was found to have the bacteria in his nose, as did one lab technician. Another lab technician was found to have a spore on her face, Giuliani said. \nThe three New York anthrax exposures bring the number of people around the nation to 12 who either have anthrax or have been exposed to the bacteria. \nThe three in New York were exposed to the disease while working on the anthrax case in which the assistant to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, Erin O'Connor, 38, was exposed. O'Connor was diagnosed with anthrax and is expected to recover. A second NBC News employee, who has not been identified, was taking antibiotics for possible symptoms of anthrax, including a low-grade fever, swollen lymph nodes and a rash. \nThe anthrax scare began last week when a photo editor for The Sun supermarket tabloid in Boca Raton, Fla., died of the inhaled form of the bacteria, the first anthrax death in the United States in 25 years. The American Media building where Bob Stevens worked was sealed off after anthrax was found on his keyboard. Two other employees turned out to have anthrax in their nasal passages, but neither has developed the disease. Both are taking antibiotics, and one has returned to work. \nThe company was notified Saturday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that five employees had been exposed to the anthrax, according to Gerald McKelvey, a spokesman for American Media. \nIn Nevada, Gov. Kenny Guinn said a third anthrax test on a letter sent from Malaysia to a Microsoft office in Reno came back positive but added that the risk to public health was "very, very low."\nBrokaw's assistant was exposed to the anthrax when she opened a threatening letter that contained the spores. The letter was mailed to Brokaw from Trenton, N.J., and postmarked on Sept. 18, one week after terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. \nWhen the letter arrived, a worker opened it, found a brown granular substance inside, and dumped much of it into the garbage, said Peter Nash, a postal inspector based in New York. The worker gave the letter to O'Connor. O'Connor thought she had thrown away the letter, but remembered it Friday while being interviewed by authorities about a different threatening letter from Florida, Nash said. \nInvestigators then found the New Jersey letter on or inside a desk, Nash said. \nNeal Shapiro, the network's news president, said Saturday that the letter had been placed among other hate letters sent to NBC that are being investigated by the company. He declined comment on what the letter said. \nMeanwhile, the mayor also said the Police Department and hospitals have received more than 100 calls from people concerned about exposure. But he stressed: "None of them have proven to be anything else but negative"