World Bank Mail Tests Positive for Anthrax
Mon May 20,11:56 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some 1,200 World Bank (news - web sites) employees were advised to stay home from work on Tuesday after inconclusive tests detected anthrax contamination on mail bound for their building, a World Bank spokeswoman said on Monday.
After routine anthrax testing of mail that was to be delivered to one of five World Bank buildings in Washington came back positive, it was put through a second more sophisticated test, which came back negative, World Bank spokeswoman Caroline Anstey said.
The sample in question was then sent to a facility in West Virginia for a determinative culture test, which will take as long as three days to complete, she said.
In the meantime, employees who work in the building at Pennsylvania Avenue and 18th Street Northwest, which is not the World Bank's main building, have been asked to stay home from work and telecommute, if possible, Anstey said. The employees are assigned mostly to African regional issues.
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