Anthrax spreads to Asia and Europe

Offices at the Jang newspaper have been sealed off

Pakistan and German officials say cases of anthrax have been found in their countries - apparently the first time non-US organisations have been targeted.

German authorities said late on Friday that anthrax spores had been discovered in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, after announcing the possible contamination of a suspect letter in the eastern state of Thuringia.

In Pakistan, a letter sent last week to a mass circulation newspaper has tested positive for the deadly spores, its editor said.

On Thursday Lithuania became the first European country to report the discovery of anthrax spores, in a US embassy postbag.

Pakistan

Staff at the Daily Jang offices in Karachi have been put on antibiotics and the offices are being disinfected.

A government spokesman said anthrax spores had also been sent to a computer company in Karachi.

Security in Pakistan is being stepped up

Nobody is reported to have been infected by any of the letters, and those exposed have been given medication.

The Daily Jang, Pakistan's largest Urdu-language newspaper, received the letter containing white powder on 23 October.

Daily Jang offices in two other cities, Quetta and Rawalpindi, also received letters claiming to contain anthrax spores, although no infection has been reported there.

There have been several anthrax scares in Pakistan, including alerts at the US embassy and the British High Commission in Islamabad.

The US embassy said on Friday white powder in a letter it received had tested negative for the disease, Reuters news agency reported.

Germany

Health authorities in the eastern German state of Thuringia said initial tests on a suspect letter showed it was contaminated with anthrax.

Experts say there is no danger to the public because the letter has not been opened.

It has been flown to Berlin for tests at the Robert Koch Institute and the federal health minister is due to announce final results later on Friday.

Post workers had already been working with gloves on as a precaution

Two parcels found in the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein have also tested positive in initial tests for anthrax.

The package, which was thickly wrapped in tape, was addressed to the unemployment office in Rudolstadt. It bore German stamps and had been handled by a German sorting office.

Last month a number of letters containing a mysterious white powder were discovered in Germany, but all turned out to be hoaxes.