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In October , two letters contaminated with Bacillus anthracis spores were processed by mechanical and manual methods at the U. Four postal workers at the Brentwood facility became ill with what was diagnosed eventually as inhalational anthrax; two died. The facility was closed on October 21, and postexposure prophylaxis was recommended for approximately 2, workers and business visitors 1. Subsequent reports of deaths of facility workers prompted concern about whether mortality was unusually high among workers, perhaps related to the anthrax attacks.
To evaluate the rates and causes of death among workers at the Brentwood facility during October 12, October 11, , CDC, in collaboration with state and local health departments, analyzed death certificate data. In addition, these data were compared with aggregate mortality data from the five USPS facilities contaminated with B.
This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicate that rates and causes of death among Brentwood workers during the 12 months after the anthrax attacks of were not different from rates and causes of deaths that occurred during the preceding 5 years. Death rates for each USPS fiscal year were calculated by dividing the total number of deaths occurring at the respective facility by the number of USPS personnel assigned to that facility as of October 12, For each contaminated postal facility, a general linear model was used to compare death rates during the 5 years preceding the study period with the death rate during the study period.
A total of 11 deaths occurred among facility workers during this period, excluding the two deaths resulting from known inhalational anthrax Table 1 ; deaths occurred during eight of 12 months. The median age of workers at death was 56 years range: years for both males and females, compared with the median worker age of 52 years range: years.
