British anthrax victim 'doing well'

Claire Fletcher (right) pictured with her sisters Sarah and Emma

A British woman working for CBS television in New York is said to be responding well to treatment after being diagnosed with skin anthrax.

Claire Fletcher, 27, is being treated with powerful antibiotics, after she came into contact with the potentially lethal spores while working as an assistant to CBS newsreader Dan Rather

She is really fine...and we are all doing well

Kim Akhtar, British work colleague from CBS

Seven people in the US have been infected with the disease in New York, Washington and Florida.

Miss Fletcher's best friend, Kim Akhtar, who works in the same office, said everyone had been shocked the diagnosis, but were now coping well with the situation.

Ms Akhtar, who is from London, said: "We work together at CBS and we are friends. She is really fine, she really is, and we are all doing well. We were all shocked, but we are over that now."

Ms Fletcher's family, who come from Sheffield, say they expect her to be home as planned for Christmas.

Other British victims

Another Briton, former Daily Mirror reporter David Wright, 62, has tested positive for exposure to the bacteria.

He works at the same Florida newspaper office as British-born Bob Stevens, who died from anthrax earlier this month - the only person to have been killed by the bacteria in the recent scare.

Investigators in the US say they are not sure yet how Ms Fletcher was exposed to the spores.

It is thought they have been in mail sent to her boss, newsreader Dan Rather, for whom she opens thousands of letters every week.

Ms Fletcher's mother Jenniffer: "She is fine"

Miss Fletcher was hailed as "heroic" by Mr Rather for continuing to work after being diagnosed with the infection, two weeks after she first noticed a slight swelling on her face.

Ms Fletcher's father Bernard, of Fullwood, Sheffield, told the BBC on Friday that she was expected to make a full recovery - and he said media attention had been a bigger problem for her than the disease.

He said: "We spoke to her yesterday... she was being hounded by the media and has been moved out of her apartment in Manhattan.

"She was expecting to come home for Christmas and I assume there wouldn't be any change to the plan.

"I don't think that physically it has a great effect on her."

The infections have hit all three major US TV networks, and prompted hoaxes and false alarms worldwide.

The latest person to be infected is an editorial secretary from the New York Post.

UK alerts

There have been more alerts over suspicious packages in the UK, the latest involving the Houses of Parliament.

Part of the Palace of Westminster was sealed off on Friday morning as investigators removed a suspect package for examination.

Scotland Yard said no one had exhibited any ill effects, but decontamination procedures had been called for as a precaution.

As well as the seven people in the US who have contracted the disease, and at least 38 people have been exposed to the bacteria.

On Friday it emerged from test results that strains of anthrax sent to NBC in New York, the Sun tabloid in Florida and to the Senate in Washington could have come from the same source.