SAfrica police investigate anthrax scare

JOHANNESBURG, July 6 (Reuters) Eleven people were sent to hospital in South Africa today after coming into contact with a suspicious powder at a post office that raised fears of anthrax, police said.

Police were called to the post office at a mall in Alberton, south of Johannesburg, after staff discovered the powder in a torn envelope, said police spokeswoman Juanita Kilian.

''The envelope was torn on the side and they could see the white powder, which prompted the first officers on the scene to call the bomb disposal unit,'' Kilian said.

''We cannot confirm that the powder was actually anthrax but the action that we took was just to be cautious.'' It was not clear where the envelope had come from or to whom it had been sent. Kilian said the parcel had been taken to the police forensic laboratory in the capital Pretoria for testing.

The 11 people who came into contact with the powder were hosed down in decontamination booths and taken to hospital for observation and treatment. They were later released.

Twenty-two people were infected and five people died in the United States in 2001 after someone mailed letters containing finely milled anthrax spores.

REUTERS RKM HS2131