NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fourth case of the potential germ warfare agent anthrax was discovered in the United States on Friday and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said there could be links between the cases and Osama bin Laden.(Read photo caption below) Hours after officials said an employee of NBC-TV Nightly News program tested positive for skin anthrax, Cheney said in a TV interview that although there was not enough evidence to positively pin down a connection to the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the cases of anthrax in Florida and New York were ``suspicious.''
``I think the only responsible thing for us to do is proceed on the basis that it could be linked,'' Cheney said on PBS' ''NewsHour.'' He said the United States had ample evidence that bin Laden's followers were trained in how to spread biological and chemical weapons.
In Nevada, a branch of software giant Microsoft Corp. in Reno received a suspicious letter filled with pornography that passed one test for anthrax but failed another and now awaits a final test on Saturday, company officials said on Friday.
A Microsoft spokesman said Nevada officials informed the company on Friday night that the second test for anthrax had proved negative after the first one was ``presumptively positive.''
The U.S. Postal Service warned employees and customers to be careful when handling suspicious packages.
The NBC employee was the fourth case of confirmed exposure to the bacteria at a media company since last month's attack on America, prompting the U.S. health system to go on alert for possible biological assault.
But fears that a letter received by a New York Times journalist at her office also contained anthrax receded after the company said on Friday night that white powder in the envelope tested negative for harmful bacteria. But the newspaper company said further tests were being run.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said on CNN that more complex tests would be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ``One preliminary test that has been done indicates negative for anthrax. But that is not final,'' Giuliani said.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Vice President Dick Cheney said October 12, 2001 there could be links between the discovery of four anthrax cases in the United States and Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks, although there was not enough evidence to positively pin down a connection. Cheney is seen at a June 29 news conference at the White House. (Win McNamee/Reuters)