Traces of anthrax found in Lithuania and Kansas City

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Traces of anthrax found in Lithuania and Kansas City

As investigators traced the last movements of a New York woman who died after contracting anthrax, the hunt for clues spread to the American Midwest after spores were discovered at a postal facility in Missouri. In a separate twist, traces of the bacteria were discovered in mail sent to the US embassy in Lithuania.

Investigators are perplexed by the case of Kathy Nguyen, 61, a Manhattan hospital worker, who contracted inhalational anthrax. She was the first person not connected to the media, politics or the postal service to contract the disease since the outbreaks began. She died on Wednesday, the fourth fatality.

In the Midwest, workers at a postal maintenance centre in Indianapolis have already been asked to take courses of antibiotics after anthrax was found on a piece of equipment sent from one of the post offices in Trenton, New Jersey, at the centre of the anthrax investigation. Yesterday it was revealed that preliminary tests had discovered traces of the bacteria at a specialised postal facility in Kansas City, Missouri.

The spores were found on swabs taken from bags of employees' rubbish in the Stamp Fulfilment Services Centre, housed in an underground complex. The source of the spores is thought to be a shipment of mail from the Brentwood facility in Washington.

Two postal workers from that facility have died after being infected by spores believed to have been contained in a letter sent to the Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle. More than 30 staff in Mr Daschle's office were exposed when the letter was opened. It is believed it was among three infected packages sent from the Trenton area of New Jersey.

The discovery of anthrax in mail sent to the US embassy in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, follows the discovery last week of traces at the embassy in Peru. In both cases the mail was sent from the State Department to the missions.

Kazimiera Rutiene, head of the microbiology laboratory of the Vilnius public health centre, said: "Following tests, we can say with a 95, maybe even 98 per cent certainty, that we found anthrax in at least one mailbag." The laboratory has been disinfected and testing staff have been given antibiotics.

The US embassy has sealed its mailroom and every employee has been offered antibiotics. Nobody has been diagnosed with the disease.

Four mailrooms at buildings owned by the US Food and Drug Administration at Rockville, Maryland, have tested positive for anthrax.