Parliamentary offices and buildings in Jerusalem, Paris and Canberra are on alert today after anthrax scares. While in the US, preliminary tests show the strains of the bacteria found in New York and Florida match.
Three people, including the Israeli prime minister's office the Israeli opposition leader, Mr Yossi Sarid, received letters with suspicious contents.
Police closed off a section of the prime minister's office when an employee felt ill after opening a letter with a foul smell. Security officials removed the letter, and two employees were taken to hospital for tests.
The French Parliament was on alert this morning following the discovery of a suspicious, white powder in a letter in the parliament’s post room.
According to French media reports, the letter was opened in one of the offices of the parliament with the result that three officials were taken to hospital for tests.
The identity of the officials has not been revealed, but it is not thought to have affected any member of parliament.
Following the discovery of the powder, emergency medical and military personel sealed off the area around the parliament with and other vehicles refused entry into the area.
Elsewhere, more than 150 postal workers have been evacuated from the central post office in Nancy following the discovery of white powder in one of the offices postal sacks.
It is thought that 18 people in the office have been in direct contact with the powder all of whom were taken to hospital for tests.
In Australia, the country's parliament complex was hit by a security scare caused by a suspicious package containing a powdery substance addressed to the office of Immigration Minister Mr Philip Ruddock.
As a precaution, the ministerial wing in the parliament building was cordoned off while security staff conducted a routine check.
A spokesman for Mr Ruddock said a suspicious package had been received, but ministers and their staff later went back to work in the wing.
Australia has been involved in a number controversies involving Afghan refugees.
In Jerusalem, experts wearing chemical suits and gas masks closed off a section of the Israeli parliament building after Knesset member Ms Naomi Chazan, of the moderate Meretz Party, was exposed to a letter in her office that contained white powder.
Parliamentary opposition leader Mr Yossi Sarid, head of the Meretz Party, received a similar letter. Mr Sarid said he opened it while travelling from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
Both Knesset members, accompanied by their assistants, were immediately taken to hospitals, where they were treated for possible anthrax infection.
Mr Sarid was given antibiotics and discharged from a Tel Aviv hospital. Ms Chazan, who was taken to a Jerusalem hospital, was also released after an examination. The results of tests have not been released.
In the US, preliminary genetic tests show the strains of anthrax that infected people at NBC News in New York and a publishing house in Florida are the same, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
The anthrax, which was evidently ground up and sent in letters to American Media (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida, and NBC in New York, responds to antibiotics and people who have started taking drugs should be protected, the CDC said.
"Preliminary tests that we have done indicate that they are a match," a CDC spokesman said, stressing that the strain responds to antibiotics.
Genetic tests are key to finding the source of the anthrax, which is fairly common because it is a dangerous livestock disease. Labs all over the world have samples to test for making vaccines and treatments.
32 people have now tested positive to anthrax exposure since the September 11th attacks on the US.
Additional reporting PA, AFP &