Colorado Springs – Under a white hood, a newly installed machine at the Colorado Springs Mail Processing and Distribution Center collects air samples to test for the presence of anthrax.
The biohazard detection system is attached to an automated cancellation machine that postmarks an average of 1.6 million pieces of mail a day.
Similar machines have been installed in postal service centers in Denver and Cheyenne.
“It was developed in direct response to the 2001 attacks,” said Carrie Martinez, manager of in- plant support for the Postal Service in Colorado Springs.
“This provides early tracking and early detection. The likelihood of it getting in the processing system and out the door is almost nil anymore,” she said.
The machine, after collecting air, completes an automated DNA test for anthrax, an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis.
If there is a DNA match, an alarm sounds and employees at the processing center are immediately evacuated and given antibiotics stocked at the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment.
A ventilation filtration system, which prevents biohazards from being distributed through the ductwork in the building, has also been installed.
From Oct. 4 to Nov. 20, 2001, 22 people in the U.S. were sickened by anthrax and five died. Most of the victims worked for the U.S. Postal Service or in mailrooms at media outlets where the contaminated mail was processed.
The detection system, developed by Northrop Grumman, was paid for by Department of Homeland Security dollars.
Martinez said that since the detection system was installed in post offices throughout the country, there has not been a positive reading or a false positive for anthrax.
The installation of the system came with significant training for employees, who practiced evacuating in the event of an emergency.
“We will take care of employees first, then the mail, then the investigation,” Martinez said.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
