Trace amount of anthrax found in OPM mailroom

A trace amount of anthrax bacteria was found in the mailroom of the Office of Personnel Management, agency officials said Wednesday. A counter top swab taken in the OPM mailroom on Dec. 11 tested positive for a single spore of anthrax, according to the agency. Mailroom employees will meet with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the area will be sanitized, according to OPM Director Kay Coles James. "The most important aspect of all of this is that none of our people working in the mailroom have exhibited any signs of anthrax-related illness," James said. OPM has conducted routine tests for anthrax since a letter containing anthrax spores was sent to the Capitol Hill office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. in October. OPM said the single spore of anthrax found in its mailroom is "far below" the level of what the CDC considers medically harmful. There have been no other indications of anthrax bacteria in air samples gathered at OPM since testing began, according to CRE, Inc., the company conducting the tests. Since October, traces of anthrax bacteria have been found in several federal facilities, including the State Department, the Supreme Court, a U.S post office in the Pentagon, and many House and Senate office buildings. Since October, five people, including two postal employees in Washington, D.C. have died from the inhaled form of anthrax.