Anthrax fears spread to Kenya yesterday when spores of the deadly bacteria were found in a package mailed from Atlanta three days before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The spores were found in a white powder that popped up in a package mailed to a Nairobi doctor by an Atlanta relative, Kenyan officials said.
The relative said he had no idea how the powder got there.
Kenyan Health Minister Sam Ongeri said the doctor and four family members “may have come into contact” with the spores when the package was opened Oct. 11.
Tests were done, but the family was “not in danger,” he said.
The package was mailed from Atlanta by Express Mail Service on Sept. 8 and arrived in Nairobi on Oct. 9.
It contained samples of cloth and was damp, Ongeri said.
After the doctor told his relative about the white powder, the relative contacted postal officials and was told the package was routed to Miami before arriving in Nairobi, he said.
The powder is undergoing further tests at the government-run Kenya Medical Research Institute.
In other anthrax developments outside the United States:
* In France, 20 people were hospitalized after suspicious mail was found at the parliament building and also at the post office in the eastern city of Nancy. All were later released. Tests on the substances are continuing.
* Health workers in China were disinfected after coming into contact with “suspicious substances” enclosed in a letter sent to a U.S. firm, the Foreign Ministry said. The letter contained publicity about the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
* The Greek Health Ministry in Athens was closed after a pink powder was found in a letter addressed to former U.S. ambassador Nicholas Burns bearing the message: “Death.” The letter was mailed from inside Greece.