An investigation into how a New York hospital worker died from a mystery case of inhalation anthrax was today being stepped up.
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Kathy Nguyen, 61, died yesterday, just a day after being confirmed as suffering from the most lethal form of the infection, becoming the fourth to die as a result of the anthrax outbreaks.
But Ms Nguyen was not a media or postal worker and had no known contact with contaminated mail, raising fears the whole mail system is at risk of spreading the spores.
Her death fuelled fears of cross-contamination, where envelopes have come into contact with an anthrax-laced package and themselves become infected. Concerns grew as a colleague of the dead woman was treated for a suspicious lesion which doctors fear may be anthrax.
And there was further mystery as a 51-year-old accountant in New Jersey was confirmed as suffering from skin anthrax, despite not having any memory of handling any suspicious packages and not being in a post office for six months.
The wider investigation into who is sending the spores in the post is proving fruitless, attorney-general Mr John Ashcroft admitted. "We do not have progress to report," he said last night.
Four cases of skin anthrax have been confirmed in New York and two more are is suspected, while in Washington two postal workers have died, two are being treated for inhalation anthrax and three more suspected sufferers are in hospital.
AP