17/11/2008

Anthrax Found At Dead Musician's Workshop

Traces of anthrax were found at a workshop belonging to a musician who died after contracted the disease, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has confirmed.

Fernando Gomez, 35, died on 2 November after he inhaled the spores at his workshop in Dalston, east London.

Testing was carried out at the victim's workshop, where animal skin drums were made. Samples were taken from the property on Tuesday 4 November and tested at the Agency's specialist laboratories in Porton Down.

Results confirmed anthrax was discovered on one of five drums in the property and also on some animal skins. No traces of anthrax were found in the other samples which were taken from a wide variety of places within the property.

Dr Brian McCloskey, Director of the Agency in the London region, said: "These results mean that we will not need to carry out wide scale specialist cleaning at the property. We have already taken the animal skins away and will be removing the drum early next week.

“We will then carry out some final checks and if all is well we will be able to hand the keys back to the owner.

"We have informed all residents of the local area about these results and have thanked them for their patience during this investigation."

See: Drum Maker Dies After Inhaling Anthrax

(JM)

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