Tuesday October 9, 2001

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The FBI took over the investigation of a Florida man's anthrax death yesterday after the germ was found in the nose of a co-worker and on a computer keyboard in their office.

"We regard this as an investigation that could become a clear criminal investigation." Attorney General John Ashcroft said during a news conference in Washington. "We don't have enough information to know whether this could be related to terrorism or not."

The FBI sealed off the Boca Raton office building housing the supermarket tabloid The Sun, where the men worked. How the bacterial spores got into the newspaper's office was still under investigation.

More than 200 people lined up for antibiotics and anthrax tests by late afternoon.

"I feel nervous. I'm worried for everybody," said David Hayes, an editor for The Star, another tabloid headquartered in the building.

Anthrax cannot be spread from person to person, but all 300 employees in the building - and anyone who spent more than an hour inside since Aug. 1 - were advised to visit Palm Beach County's health agency. Antibiotics can be used to treat anthrax, though the form that caused last week's death is particularly lethal.

Health officials said there was no public health threat, even to building employees. "The risk is low," said Dr. John Agwunobi, Florida secretary of health.

Ashcroft said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was providing expertise in the case. Florida Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan confirmed the FBI was in control of the investigation.

Bob Stevens, 63, a photo editor for The Sun, died Friday of inhalation anthrax, an

extremely rare and deadly form of the disease. The last such death in the United

States was in 1976.

Yesterday, officials said another Sun employee, whose name was not released, had anthrax bacteria in his nasal passages. Relatively large anthrax spores that lodge in the upper respiratory tract are less dangerous than smaller spores that get into the lungs.

The co-worker was in stable condition at an unidentified Miami-Dade County hospital, according to health officials. He had been tested for anthrax because he happened to be in a hospital for an unrelated and undisclosed illness.

The man has not been diagnosed with the disease, and CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said authorities may never know whether he actually had anthrax because antibiotics may have killed it before it was detected.

David Pecker, chief executive of the tabloids' publisher, American Media Inc., said the man worked in the mailroom. The sample of anthrax that was found in the building was taken from Stevens' computer keyboard, Agwunobi said.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have raised fears of bioterrorism across the country, but there is particular concern about the origin of the anthrax here.

Stevens lived about a mile from an air strip where suspected hijacker Mohamed Atta rented planes, said Marian Smith, owner of the flight school. Several suspected hijackers also visited a crop-dusting business in Belle Glade, 40 miles from Stevens' home in Lantana.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer would not rule out terrorism as a possible explanation for the anthrax, though there "is no evidence to suggest anything yet."

Pecker said he did not believe the company was being targeted by terrorists because of coverage of the attacks and suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Only 18 cases of anthrax contracted through inhalation in the United States were documented in the 20th century, the most recent in 1976 in California. Without treatment, 90 percent of victims die within days and antibiotics do little good once symptoms appear.

More common is a less serious form of anthrax contracted through the skin.

Anthrax can be contracted from farm animals or soil, though the bacterium is not normally found among wildlife or livestock in Florida. Stevens was described as an avid outdoorsman and gardener.

County medical examiners are looking over any unexplained deaths, but have not found any cases connected to anthrax.

An injectable anthrax vaccine has been around since the 1970s, but it limited to military use. It is reportedly not in production.