Bioterror Threat Absent In Latvia

Matters related to the potential threat of infections and bioterrorism were discussed on Tuesday at a sitting of the Latvian state operative commission for emergency situations. "There is no emergency situation" in Latvia, the commission said. Simultaneously, it drew the attention of state and municipal structures to the need of retaining vigilance in order to prevent whatever acts of terrorism and emergency situations. The Latvian national environmental health center has already checked 36 mails as suspected of containing anthrax. None of them has proved to be actually contagious. As it has to check suspicious mail, the center's microbiological laboratory is working round-the-clock. At the same time, its specialists are monitoring the condition of burials of men and farm animals who died of anthrax in the period between 1946 and 1989. Twenty such potential anthrax hotbeds have been registered in Latvia.