Pentagon's anthrax alert proved false, U.S. says

Globe and Mail | March 16 2005

Washington -- Anthrax tests from two Pentagon mailrooms came back negative yesterday, a day after initial testing indicated the deadly spores might be present, prompting nearly 900 workers to take antibiotics as a precaution.

Responding to what now appear to have been false alarms, officials handed out antibiotics and closed three mail facilities -- two that serve the Pentagon and one in Washington that handles mail on its way to the military.

"We had some preliminary results that were positive, but subsequent additional tests have determined that the sample that we had was in fact negative," said Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defence for health affairs.