ANTHRAX Campus Search Yields No Anthrax Employees Instructed to Stop Antibiotic Use By Arianne Aryanpur Hoya Staff Writer

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Georgetown mailroom employees who had recently been given a precautionary prescription of doxcycycline, the generic form of Cipro, have been advised by D.C. public health officials to stop taking the antibiotic after the Georgetown campus tested negative for anthrax.

Georgetown University’s campus tested negative for anthrax contamination last week, Assistant Director for Communications Julie Green Bataille said.

According to a link on the university’s Web site, Georgetown underwent professional environmental tests of all university-run mail facilities in Alexandria, Va., and the Law Center.

U.S. mail is sorted at each facility before being distributed at the university’s campuses.

The 35 Georgetown mailroom employees given a precautionary seven-day sample and 53-day prescription of the antibiotic doxycycline on Oct. 23 are “doing great,” Georgetown University Hospital Spokesman Jim Welsh confirmed. The employees were given a preventative sample of Doxycycline, a generic form of the prophylactic antibiotic Cipro, after two employees at the Brentwood Road main processing center died of pulmonary anthrax. Two other employees were hospitalized with pulmonary anthrax last week as well.

According to Welsh, the negative test results prompted D.C. public health officials to advise Georgetown employees provided with the antibiotic to discontinue treatment. “They have been instructed to discontinue use and have done so,” Welsh said.

In a letter addressed to the Georgetown community last week, University President John J. DeGioia said the university continues to be in contact with U.S. Postal Service officials. Mail that would have gone through the Brentwood Road main processing center has been re-directed, they said.

Officials closed the Brentwood Road facility Oct. 21 after it handled an anthrax-contaminated letter mailed to Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle’s (D-S.D.) office. The subsequent closing of 20 other post offices in the area and the rerouting of mail have caused a noticeable slowing in the university’s mail flow. While Friendship Station, one of the facilities that handles Georgetown’s bulk mail, reopened Wednesday, the university was receiving delayed mail as much as 10 days last week.

U.S. Postal Service officials said Oct. 30 that the university could continue to expect delays since they are carefully screening incoming mail.

The U.S. Postal Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also established Web sites that advise the proper handling of suspicious packages. The University has provided a video Web cast of “Undersanding Anthrax,” a presentation by Dr. Mary A. Young, assistant professor of medicine at Georgetown University’s Division of Infectious Diseases.

Health authorities still assure university faculty, staff and students that chances of contracting Anthrax through the mail are “extremely low,” the Web site said.

“Going forward, we will continue to coordinate any steps we take based on the information and recommendations of the leading public health experts,” DeGioia said in his letter addressed to the Georgetown community. “We are committed to working proactively to protect our community and to ensure that we are prepared to implement any health or security directives that we might receive.”

Those concerned can still call (202) 784-5555 to receive updates on Anthrax risks at Georgetown.

Specific questions can be directed to the Georgetown Student Primary Health Care Clinic at (202) 687-2200.