For Release:
   October 28, 2001

For Further Information Contact:
Laura Otterbourg or Marilyn Riley
(609) 984-7160

A physician with Capital Health Systems is reporting a preliminary positive nasal swab result on a Trenton firefighter. At this time, the DHSS and CDC do not consider this patient to be possible case of inhalational anthrax. The firefighter is doing well, with the exception of a slight cough. However, the nasal swab test has been forwarded to the State's Public Health Laboratory for confirmation.

Following is an update the condition of postal workers with anthrax: Note that the CDC defines a confirmed case of anthrax as 1) a clinically compatible case of cutaneous, inhalational, or gastrointestinal illness that is laboratory confirmed by isolation of B. anthracis from an affected tissue or site or 2) other laboratory evidence of B. anthracis infection based on at least two supportive laboratory tests. A suspected case is defined as 1) a clinically compatible case of illness without isolation of B. anthracis and no alternative diagnosis, but with laboratory evidence of B. anthracis by one supportive laboratory test or 2) a clinically compatible case of anthrax epidemiologically linked to a confirmed environmental exposure, but without corroborative laboratory evidence of B. anthracis infection.

All but 60 of the approximately 1,200 postal workers from the Route 130 Mail Processing Center in Hamilton Township who initially visited the occupational health clinic at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center at Hamilton have returned to receive an antibiotic re-fill according to hospital administrators.

The DHSS, in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and St. Francis Medical Center, opened today a clinic in the Crean Hall Auditorium in the School of Nursing at St. Francis Medical Center on 601 Hamilton Avenue in Trenton. The clinic will continue through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. The clinic is providing antibiotic treatment for all people who went into the non-public workplace areas of the Route 130 Hamilton Mail Processing Facility where bulk mail is picked up. Sixty days of antibiotic treatment are recommended to all postal workers and persons going into the workplace areas of the Hamilton facility since September 18 even if they have received a negative nasal swab result.

The Department has a bioterrorism phone line at the Emergency Operations Center at 609-538-6030 that is open between 8 am and 11 pm until further notice. Hearing-impaired residents with anthrax-related concerns can contact the New Jersey Relay Center by dialing either 711 or 1-800- 852-7899.The Relay Center will convey the message to DHSS at 609-538-6030. Information is also available on the website at www.state.nj.us/health.

As of today, the state laboratory has received more than 1,151 environmental samples, such as envelopes and packages, collected by law enforcement agencies from across the state. Testing on 640 of those specimens has been completed and all are negative for anthrax. The lab conducts preliminary (gram/spore stain) tests and culture tests on environmental samples and on clinical samples that meet established testing protocols.

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