Direct mail may have led to the anthrax death of Ottilie Lundgren in Connecticut last fall.
State health officials said on Tuesday that the 94 year-old Lundgren probably was infected by “contaminated junk mail” that went through the Trenton, NJ postal facility. That unit also processed contaminated letters sent to Sens. Tom Daschle and Pat Leahy, according to Associated Press.
Lundgren tended to tear direct mail in half before discarding it, and that may have led to her being infected, the New York Times reported.
Speaking at a medical conference in Atlanta, state epidemiologist Dr. James L. Hadler said that 80% of Lundgren’s mail was bulk, and that some of it went through Trenton, the Times said.
However, Hadler fell just short of saying that the evidence was conclusive.
The Direct Marketing Association took the position last fall that direct mail is the safest mail of all because it goes through different processes than first-class mail.
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