No evidence of anthrax in woman's mail, mailbox, or post office

Preliminary tests have found no evidence of anthrax on the personal mail, mailbox or post office of an elderly Connecticut woman who mysteriously died of the bacterium.

Officials in Washington say the preliminary tests have found no spores on the woman's mailbox outside her rural Oxford home, on mail found inside her home, or at the post office she used.

The officials added there was no anthrax evidence on tests taken at the US Postal processing center that served her area.

"The preliminary tests show nothing positive," one official said.

They're warning the tests were preliminary and more samples from Ottilie Lundgren's home and other locations she frequented were still pending.

As US investigators searched for clues to how the 94-year-old woman came down with anthrax, Chilean officials have confirmed the first reported in mail outside America.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a letter sent from Switzerland to Chile was tainted with anthrax. The letter had been sent to Dr. Antonio Banfi, a pediatrician at a children's hospital in Santiago.

Mr Banfi became suspicious because the letter was postmarked in Zurich but marked with a Florida return address, Chilean officials said. No other details were made available.