Anthrax False Alarm in Pakistan

WASHINGTON — State Department officials said Wednesday that additional tests showed no anthrax contamination at a U.S. Consulate in Pakistan--marking the latest in a string of false alarms for the deadly bacteria in foreign countries.

Police detained a man over the weekend in connection with a letter mailed to the consulate in Lahore that contained a suspicious white powder.

Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said that so far, the only known contamination found overseas was in a diplomatic pouch to the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru. Authorities believe that finding was the result of mail that came from a contaminated postal hub in Washington.

Russian authorities in Yekaterinburg this week reported finding anthrax spores in a mailbag from the U.S. Consulate there. Last week, officials in Germany and India said they believed the bacteria had been found in letters and packages in their countries, only to retract the results after further tests proved negative.