October 19 2001 at 02:05PM Eleven people were admitted to Durban's Addington hospital for preventative treatment against anthrax infections, the KwaZulu-Natal health department said on Friday.
Nine of them were admitted at 7am on Friday morning and the other two were admitted on Thursday evening.
Two of the patients were South African Police Services members who handled an envelope containing white powder that was found at a mail sorting company, two were employees at that company and seven were security employees at Durban International Airport, where white powder was found on a toilet floor.
The powder has been sent for analysis.
Meanwhile, the 11 patients have been put on antibiotics and their nasal swabs have been sent for analysis.
None of them have displayed any symptoms associated with anthrax and this was purely a precautionary measure, health department spokesman Dave McGlew said.
The results of the analysis will be complete a day or two from now. -
Sapa