NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya became the first country outside the United States Thursday to confirm anthrax being sent by post, with one letter testing positive and two others sent for laboratory tests. (Read photo caption below)Health Minister Sam Ongeri said a letter sent from the United States to an unnamed businessman in Nairobi contained anthrax.
Governments worldwide heightened their defenses after the news that anthrax had spread beyond the United States, where around 50 people have so far been exposed to the disease and one has died, as fears grow that anthrax is being used a biological weapon.
A second letter, originating from Pakistan, was sent to a member of staff at the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi. A U.N. spokesman described the envelope as brown, grubby and covered in extensive handwriting, including the word ''immaculate.''
In New York, chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said the UNEP director, Klaus Toepfer, of Germany, had delayed a scheduled trip to New York to await test results, which would be announced Friday in Nairobi.
The third letter was received in the central Kenyan town of Nyeri, having been sent from Nairobi, Ongeri said, and would be sent to the Kenya Medical Research Institute for analysis.
Anthrax proves most dangerous when people breath in the spores. There is no way for the patient to know he or she is infected until flu-like symptoms show up -- days to weeks after exposure -- and by then it is usually too late to treat.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Two Kenyans read a newspaper for news of an anthrax alert in Nairobi, October 18, 2001. Kenya became the first country outside the United States to confirm anthrax being sent by post, with one letter testing positive and two others sent for laboratory tests. (Antony Njuguna/Reuters)