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The
Department of Health and Senior Services has announced today that
anthrax test results for one environmental sample taken from the
Allentown Post Office - one of the 49 postal facilities that feed
into the Route 130 Mail Processing Facility in Hamilton Township
- did not sufficiently confirm the absence or presence of anthrax
and is currently being retested at the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC).
"The
'equivocal' sample represents only one environmental sample that
was collected at the Allentown Post Office among a total of 20 collected
at that facility," said Assistant Commissioner and State Epidemiologist
Eddy Bresnitz, MD. "Since the post office will be closed tomorrow,
we have recommended to the U.S. Postal Service that the facility
be cleaned before it reopens. The post office will be cleaned Sunday
while awaiting final results."
Today's
update follows yesterday's announcement of four post offices that
feed into the Hamilton facility, with one positive sample each -
Princeton-Palmer Square; Rocky Hill; Jackson Main (at 915 Bennett's
Mill Road); and Trenton Station E (1137 Hamilton Avenue). The area,
where the positive sample was collected in each facility, was cleaned
up early this morning and the post offices were then open today.
All other test results from the 49 facilities were confirmed as
negative.
The DHSS and CDC are also reiterating that Allentown employees not
take prophylactic antibiotics, as was also recommended yesterday
for the postal workers at the other 48 facilities. Those employees
who began antibiotics as a precautionary measure can discontinue
taking them. Workers who continue to have health concerns have been
advised to speak with their health care provider or representatives
of the health service available to postal employees.
The
Department has established a bioterrorism phone line at the Emergency
Operations Center at 609-538-6030 that is open between 8 am and
11 pm until further notice. From 11 p.m. to 8 a.m., the number is
609-392-2020. Information is also available on the website at www.state.nj.us/health.
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