New Theory in Anthrax Death Looks at Ripped-Up Junk Mail
The 94-year-old Connecticut woman who died of inhalation anthrax last fall may have been infected by ripping her junk mail in half, releasing deadly spores into the air, health officials said.
Investigators have never given a conclusive explanation for Ottilie Lundgren’s death Nov. 21, one of five after anthrax-laden letters were mailed to media and political offices in the fall. But they have long suspected mail cross-contamination.
About 80% of Lundgren’s mail was bulk delivery, some of which passed through the same Trenton, N.J., postal facility that handled contaminated letters sent to Sens. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), said Connecticut’s state epidemiologist, Dr. James Hadler.
Lundgren’s habit of tearing junk mail in half before discarding it may have released enough spores into the air to infect her, Hadler said at a conference held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Testing at Lundgren’s home and places she visited turned up no anthrax spores.
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