ATLANTA - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that a Texas laboratory worker testing specimens from last fall's anthrax attacks contracted the skin form of the disease. <br>
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Officials declined to identify the lab worker, but said he is being treated with antibiotics and is recovering from the infection. <br>
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CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency did not know how the person became infected in the lab. <br>
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Skinner added, ``It's something that we're continuing to look into. We're sure that he got it in the lab; we just don't know how.'' <br>
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It was the first confirmed case of anthrax infection in the United States since November. <br>
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The lab worker was processing specimens in a private laboratory, one of several the Atlanta-based CDC contracted with to work through a backlog of samples collected during the peak of the anthrax attacks. <br>
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Skinner would not release the laboratory's location. <br>
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The worker noticed a skin lesion on his neck March 4 and went to his doctor to have it tested. Skinner said preliminary tests indicated the worker had cutaneous anthrax. <br>
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It was unclear whether the Texas lab worker had been vaccinated against anthrax. Workers in labs that regularly handle anthrax are routinely vaccinated against the organism.
