An elderly woman has been hospitalised in Connecticut with suspected inhalation anthrax, Governor John Rowland said last night, as investigators in Washington found traces of anthrax in the offices of two more US lawmakers.
The woman, in her nineties, has tested positive for the disease in a preliminary test, to be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mr Rowland told a press conference.
"The CDC may take several days to complete a definitive test", Mr Rowland said, adding that CDC experts might go to the woman's home some 16 kilometers west of New Haven to check for traces of anthrax.
The woman, whose name has not been revealed, had had "limited exposure in terms of traveling, limited routine, so we're a little bit disturbed as to how this could have happened," Mr Rowland said.
Most of the 17 cases of inhalation anthrax or the less deadly skin anthrax that have been confirmed by the CDC since the anthrax scare broke out have involved people with ties to the US Postal Service, the government or media figures.
Four people have died of inhalation anthrax in the US, while another six have been diagnosed with it, and seven people have contracted skin anthrax.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Mr Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts said in a statement that limited amounts of anthrax bacteria had been found during tests carried out over the weekend in the Russell Senate Office Building, next to the Capitol, where the US Congress convenes.
AFP