KARACHI, 25 October — Despite denial from the Sindh health secretary, doctors at the Aga Khan Hospital and University here have confirmed receiving two cases of anthrax, adding both the victims were employees of American firms, operating in the country.
The identity of the patients and their employers were not revealed, but insiders reported that an international bank, and a computer-marketing company have been the targets. While there are two American banks, American Express and Citibank are operating in the country, the only US-owned computer firm is IBM. All of them have 100 percent local staff, including their chief executives.
The country had its second anthrax scare after a letter containing suspicious white powder was received by a foreign bank in southern Karachi late last week, officials said yesterday.
An official at Habib AG Zurich Bank said five bank employees had been put on a seven-day antibiotic course as a precaution, but none had been diagnosed as contracting the disease.
We received a letter last week posted from America which contained a white powdery substance,” the official said. “Including myself, at that time around 12 people were on the second floor of the building ...but all of them tested negative for possible anthrax exposure,” he said.
He said the letter was addressed to the joint president of the bank and opened by a secretary. Hospitals had been conducting tests, he added. Health officials were not immediately available for comment. Last week a local employee at the British High Commission (embassy) in the capital Islamabad was briefly hospitalized after opening an envelope containing white powder. The bank official said none of the employees felt sick.
“We are feeling perfectly normal ...there is no sign of illness in any of the employees who are on the antibiotic course,” he said. A floor of the bank building had been sealed and fumigated after the incident, he said. Anthrax, often found in farm animals, is spread by spores.
Without quick treatment, more than 80 percent of people who contract the severe inhalation form of anthrax die. Anthrax, often found in farm animals, is spread by spores. A spate of anthrax attacks in the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks have sparked worldwide fears that the potentially deadly bacteria was being used as a biological weapon.
