Chronology of Anthrax Events in October, 2001
Erin O'Connor (case 2), NBC assistant to anchor Tom Brokaw, goes to her doctor with a low-grade fever and a bad rash and is prescribed the antibiotic Cipro. The diagnosis of cutaneous anthrax was made on October 12.
Ernesto Blanco (case 7), an American Media Inc. (AMI) mailroom employee, is hospitalized with pneumonia. Inhalational anthrax was diagnosed on October 7.
Claire Fletcher (case 9), assistant to anchor Dan Rather of CBS News, developed a blemish on her cheek which later was confirmed as cutaneous anthrax on October 18.
At 2:30 a.m., American Media Inc. photo editor Robert Stevens (case 5) arrives at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis with 102-degree fever, vomiting and confusion. He deteriorates rapidly.
Doctors determine Robert Stevens (case 5) has anthrax. He is on a respirator, being treated with intravenous penicillin. October 4-5, the news media informs the public of first known case in the anthrax.
In New Jersey, Heller (case 4), the West Trenton post office letter carrier, is hospitalized and a biopsy is performed. It was not sent to CDC for anthrax testing until October 17.
AMI calls the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ask whether its Boca Raton headquarters should be evacuated. The CDC says no, and everyone continues working as usual at AMI. That afternoon, JFK Medical Center along with the Florida Department of Health call a news conference to confirm that a patient (case 5) has anthrax. They stress that it is a public health investigation and they believe it is an isolated case. U.S. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson, at the White House, stressed that there was no indication of terrorism.
Canadian defense officials send email to CDC that tells of study that shows unopened envelopes containing anthrax posed health risks to mail handlers, and that opening such a letter could instantly release millions of deadly spores into the air. The email is not opened at CDC until after October 30, when told of the study by colleagues.
Teams from the CDC fan out to Stevens' (case 5) home and office. At JFK's intensive care unit, Stevens is pronounced dead, becoming the first anthrax fatality in the United States since 1976.
At 7 p.m. the CDC notifies AMI that they intend to seal the building because test samples have shown anthrax spores on Stevens' (case 5) computer keyboard and in the nasal passages of Ernesto Blanco (case 7), an AMI employee who delivered mail to other workers there.
In Miami, the family of Ernesto Blanco is notified that Blanco (case 7) has tested positive for anthrax exposure. He has no symptoms of anthrax infection. Employees of AMI line up at the Delray Health Center to be tested and to receive a two-week supply of antibiotics.
Attorney General John Ashcroft announces, "We regard this as an investigation that could become a clear criminal investigation." While CDC continues to provide expertise, the FBI takes over the investigation.
Letters containing anthrax addressed to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Patrick Leahy are postmarked in Trenton, N.J. The letters bear the same fictitious "Greendale School" return address and are written in all-capital block letters.
In New York, a skin biopsy is performed on Erin O'Connor (case 2), the NBC employee.
In South Florida, the FBI says it found no traces of anthrax in the known places the Sept. 11 hijackers had stayed, or in Stevens' (case 5) home or the places he frequented. Federal and state officials said they now believe the case is an isolated incident of "foul play." President Bush tries to assure anxious Americans that the Florida cases do not warrant national alarm.
Federal investigators announce that a third AMI employee has tested positive for anthrax exposure and that the AMI case has become a criminal investigation. (not listed as "confirmed" or "suspicious" by CDC).
Federal officials say they have found more anthrax spores in the AMI mailroom. Postal workers demand to be tested for anthrax exposure. The third AMI employee to test positive for anthrax exposure, Stephanie Dailey, 36, announces from her Boynton Beach home that she is on antibiotics and feels fine (not listed as "confirmed" or "suspicious" by CDC).
In New York, the skin biopsy tests on the NBC employee, Erin O'Connor (case 2), reveals that she had been exposed to anthrax. NBC offices are sealed off while investigators conduct tests. The letter to NBC's Brokaw from Trenton, N.J. containing the granular substance is tested.
Post officials believe on this day, the anthrax letter addressed to Sen. Leahy was misrouted and passed through a State Department mail facility in Sterling, Va., where a worker later developed inhalation anthrax.
Five more employees of the Boca Raton tabloid publisher AMI test positive for the presence of anthrax bacteria. The employees are put on antibiotics and are not expected to develop the disease (not listed as "confirmed" or "suspicious" by CDC).
The threatening letter sent to Brokaw from Trenton, N.J. tests positive for anthrax. A second NBC News employee who handled the letter reports possible symptoms.
A Delaware resident who worked as a mail sorter at a New Jersey postal processing and distributing center developed a painless lesion on the back of his left hand. The lesion for some while was thought to be anthrax but later was not confirmed by CDC (case 10)
Three new cases -- a police officer and two lab technicians involved in an investigation at NBC's New York headquarters -- test positive for the bacteria, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announces (none of the three were listed as "confirmed" or "suspicious" by CDC).
New Jersey postal worker Norma Wallace (case 11) came down with what she thought was the flu. Later it was confirmed as inhalation anthrax.
Co-worker Patrick O'Donnell (case 12) at the New Jersey postal facility developed a skin lesion which subsequently was diagnosed as cutaneous anthrax.
The nation's anthrax inquiry widens. The letter postmarked in Trenton, N.J. is opened in the Washington office (Hart Building) of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. It tests positive for anthrax.
Inspectors in Boca Raton confirm the presence of spores in the city's main post office.
In New York, ABC announces that the 7-month-old son (case 8) of one of its producers was found to be infected with cutaneous anthrax. The boy had been at the network's offices in Manhattan on Sept. 28.
The Florida Department of Health announces that tests show Ernesto Blanco (case 7), an AMI mailroom employee, has contracted the inhaled form of anthrax. Earlier tests indicated he had only been exposed to anthrax spores.
An unnamed third worker at the New Jersey postal facility developed fever, headache, chills, and shortness of breath which later was confirmed as inhalational anthrax (case 13).
Leroy Richmond (case 14), Washington DC area postal worker, developed a pulmonary illness which later was diagnosed as inhalational anthrax.
Co-postal worker Thomas Morris, Jr. (case 15) in the Washington DC area had fatigue, fever and muscle pain which later was diagnosed as inhalational anthrax.
Co-postal worker Joseph Curseen, Jr. (case 16) in the Washington DC area had fatigue, diarrhea, faintness and other symptoms later diagnosed as inhalational anthrax.
An unnamed Washington DC area co-postal worker (case 17) came down with fatigue and night sweats which later was diagnosed as inhalational anthrax.
AMI says it probably destroyed the letter to its Boca office in Florida that contained anthrax. AMI management decides to abandon its headquarters.
U.S. Senate offices close as hundreds line up for tests. It is announced that the anthrax mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on October 9 is a pure and highly potent version. Based on similarities in the handwriting on the envelope and the postmarks, the FBI links this letter to the one sent to NBC News.
Congressional leaders arrange for an unprecedented shutdown of the House after 31 people test positive for exposure to anthrax; the number is later dropped to 28. Those exposed include workers in the offices of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Russell Feingold and Capitol Hill police officers.
New York Gov. George Pataki announces that anthrax has been found in his Manhattan office, but later tests came up negative.
New Jersey accountant Linda Burch (case 18) noticed a skin lesion on her forehead that later was diagnosed as cutaneous anthrax.
Preliminary tests indicate the anthrax sent to New York and Florida is the same strain.
Editorial page assistant Johanna Huden (case 1) at the New York Post, is told five weeks after a skin lesion appeared that she is diagnosed as having cutaneous anthrax.
The bacteria strikes the third major television network, forces the decontamination of two more South Florida post office buildings and is found in a package that originated in the United States and was delivered to Kenya.
An assistant to CBS News anchor Dan Rather (case 9) and a New Jersey postal worker (case 3) are diagnosed with the skin form of the disease in New York.
Postal Service closes Hamilton processing center in Trenton, New Jersey after 32 of 80 environmental samples taken there test positive for anthrax
A New York Post employee (case 19) develops the skin-form of anthrax. A second New Jersey postal worker (case 4) is diagnosed with the skin-form of anthrax by CDC.
Two New Jersey postal workers are hospitalized -- Norma Wallace (case 11) and an unnamed person (case 13).
Anthrax spores are found in the Ford Office Building, where mail is processed for legislators in the House of Representatives. Also, Leroy Richmond, a postal worker at the Brentwood post office (case 14) in Washington D.C. is tested for anthrax and another unnamed postal worker is hospitalized with respiratory symptoms (case 17).
Thomas Morris Jr. (case 15), a Washington postal worker suspected of having inhalation anthrax, dies. Reports indicate that in a desperate 911 call hours before he died, the Washington mail sorter told a dispatcher that he suspected he had been exposed at work to an envelope containing lethal anthrax spores. His previous attempts to convince his supervisors and doctor that he had anthrax went unheeded.
The New York Post says its anthrax letter is almost identical to those sent to Brokaw and Daschle.
The scope of the anthrax problem in Washington grows dramatically. Joseph Curseen (case 16), a Washington postal worker, comes to the hospital with flu-like symptoms in the morning and dies of inhalation anthrax by evening, making him the second postal worker to die of anthrax.
New Jersey accountant Linda Burch (case 18) seeks care at the emergency room of her local hospital.
State Department postal worker David Hose (case 20) develops respiratory symptoms later to be confirmed as inhalational anthrax.
Authorities test 2,200 workers.
Anthrax is detected on a letter-opening machine that screens White House mail. Authorities confirm the two postal workers (case 15 and case 16) who died succumbed to anthrax. Images of the three anthrax letters mailed from Trenton, N.J., are released; they are strongly similar.
Ernesto Blanco (case 7), AMI mailroom worker diagnosed with inhaled anthrax, is released from the hospital after 23 days.
Mark Cunningham (case 21) of the New York Post notices a small lesion on his forehead, later to be confirmed as cutaneous anthrax.
Surgeon General David Satcher admits "we were wrong'' not to respond more aggressively to tainted mail in Washington.
David Hose (case 20), an employee at the State Department's mail facility, is hospitalized with anthrax and the Postal Service sets up spot checks at facilities nationwide.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says the anthrax the Daschle letter was highly concentrated and made "to be more easily absorbed'' by its victims.
The number of Americans taking antibiotics for possible anthrax exposure reaches 10,000.
Kathy Nguyen (case 22), employed in the stockroom of the Manhatten Eye, Ear and Throat hospital, is sick with muscle pain and malaise, to be diagnosed on October 29 as inhalational anthrax.
CDC reports Casey Chamberlain (case 6), assistant to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, as having “suspicious or probable" cutaneous anthrax.
The Supreme Court building is ordered shut down for anthrax testing. Postal workers demand the closure of anthrax-tainted buildings in New York and Florida, with some union officials threatening to sue the Postal Service
Kathy Nguyen (case 22) of a Manhattan hospital tests positive for inhalation anthrax. She is in "very, very serious" condition and on a respirator, officials say.
New Jersey health authorities report a woman (case 18) who handles mail for a private company there has cutaneous anthrax.
Small amounts of anthrax were found in the Supreme Court's basement mailroom and four other federal buildings in Washington.
Tests in Florida on cars used by two of the Sept. 11 hijackers found no traces of anthrax.
Trace amounts of anthrax are found in the mailroom of the USDA Economic Research Service, and the head of the State Department's medical unit also says that anthrax spores are "probably all over" the two-block building.
U.S. Postal Service officials say anthrax spore traces have been found at a postal station in northwest Washington and in Dulles Station, Virginia.
CDC learns of anthrax study by Canadian defense officials that tells of mail danger due to cross-contamination with spore-containing letters. The information was sent to CDC via email on Oct. 4 but not read.
A New York City hospital worker becomes the fourth victim to die from inhalation anthrax. Kathy Nguyen (case 22) worked in a medical supply room in the basement of the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, in an area that once housed a mailroom.
In New Jersey, a major mail plant is shut down after a postal employee is suspected of having skin anthrax. In the nation’s capital, three post office centers that had been closed for decontamination are reopened.
Source: Modification of table in Sun-Sentinel News, December, 2001.