newstime digest

A descending chronological look at selected headlines from The Morrock News Service

11/21/01

BAFFLING ANTHRAX DEATH OF CONNECTICUT WOMAN

Ottilie Lundgren, 94, lived in rural Connecticut and seldom left her home. Yet on Wednesday she died of inhaled anthrax, forcing baffled health officials to admit that they had no idea how she contracted the disease.

Lundgren became the fifth anthrax fatality since the current outbreak began last month, and the first person to die who did not live in New York, New Jersey, Florida or Washington.

FBI investigators are combing through the recent details of her life to try to solve the puzzle, saying "the mail is certainly an obvious issue, but we're really trying to keep an open mind about any possibility."

Dr. Jeffrey Koplan of the Centers for Disease Control said it could be that anthrax occurs naturally more frequently than had been thought, and it is being noticed now because of the recent wave of anthrax-tainted letters -- none of which have been reported in Connecticut. However, animal anthrax has never been reported in Connecticut either.

Gov. John Rowland said he had no doubt that Lundgren's death was due to "domestic terrorism."

"This is a homicide," he said. "Anthrax is not an accident."

Until a tabloid photo editor died Oct. 5 in Florida, no case of inhalation anthrax had been reported in the U.S. since 1976.

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