Because of concern about Virginia postal workers being exposed to anthrax, Gov. James S. Gilmore III announced Friday the creation of three regional treatment centers in Northern Virginia to distribute antibiotics.
Treatment centers opened at the Fairfax County Government Center, Prince William County Health Department and Loudon County Health Department. On Saturday, centers began distributing Cipro, the recommended antibiotic for treating anthrax, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The establishment of the treatment centers came after news Thursday that a mail service employee who processes mail for the State Department Annex in Sterling, Va., contracted inhalation anthrax, the most lethal form of the disease.
The worker infected at the Sterling facility is in guarded condition at Winchester hospital. Officials believe the man may have contracted the disease from mail that bumped against an anthrax-contaminated letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
The Sterling facility receives mail that is processed through the Brentwood Post Office in Washington, D.C., which processes mail sent to congressional offices. Mail from the Sterling facility is distributed to the State Department building and international outposts.
The state is "erring on the side of caution," said Gilmore's spokesman Reed Boatright of the decision to distribute treatment. Mail handlers from the Sterling facility and eight or nine other mailrooms near Sterling are receiving treatment on a voluntary basis.
According to a press release from the governor's office, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that all people "who have worked since October 11 in non-public, mail operations areas at postal facilities that directly receive mail processed at the Brentwood facility to receive preventative treatment."
Workers are not being tested for anthrax because the swab test previously used is not thought to be effective anymore, Boatright said. Instead, workers are receiving treatment on a preventative basis.
The U.S. Postal Service also is testing 300 mail-processing and distribution centers around Washington, D.C., and 30 more nationwide, for anthrax spores. This list later could include Virginia facilities in Merrifield and Richmond.
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