Anthrax scare brings postal office to a standstill
One of Switzerland's largest postal sorting offices was shut down on Wednesday following an anthrax scare.
An employee at the office in Schlieren, canton Zurich, raised the alarm after detecting an unidentified white substance that was seeping out an envelope.
The package is currently being examined and the sorting office has now reopened.
A fresh spate of suspicious envelopes continued to propagate anthrax fear around the country on Thursday.
Authorities in Zurich said at least five dubious packages were found and confirmed that three of those had been hoaxes.
A letter received by a person in Horgen in the same canton is also being tested for anthrax.
In canton Basel, a man was arrested for sending a hoax letter. Police said the man had wanted to take advantage of the current unrest to put pressure on a government office.
According to an article in the penal code, the man could face up to three years in prison if he is found guilty of causing alarm among the general public.
Authorities in Basel said there had been 22 alerts of suspect packages on Thursday. All of those tested negative for the bacteria.
Other packages are being examined in St Gallen and in Neuchâtel.
US welcomes Swiss experts
Two experts in biological weapons from a government laboratory in Spiez arrived in the US on Thursday at the request of the Swiss ambassador.
They will help staff at the embassy in Washington and at the consulate in New York deal with the threat of anthrax attacks.
The Swiss consulate was shut down on Wednesday following the detection of anthrax spores in the office belonging to New York’s governor general, which is in the same building.
If caught early enough, the various kinds of anthrax can be treated with antibiotics. However, in the case of the most deadly inhaled form, the strain that killed a man in Florida, the early symptoms can be confused with a common cold.
swissinfo with agencies
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