latest embassy news 

Confirmation of Anthrax in Mailbag

November 2, 2001

November 2, 2001-- The U.S. Embassy in Vilnius has received confirmation from the Microbiology Laboratory of the Lithuanian Public Health Center that one of five diplomatic mailbags sent to the lab for testing contained trace amounts of anthrax spores. The embassy continues to operate, although the embassy mailroom has been sealed off. Decontamination instructions have been received from the State Department and decontamination and cleaning of the embassy mailroom will be conducted on Monday by specialists from the Lithuanian Public Health Center. Employees continue to be kept up to date on newest developments and antibiotics have been offered to those embassy employees and their families wishing to take such precautions.