If Bioterrorists Strike, Letter Carriers Might Deliver Antibiotics

"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor bioterrorism attack stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds -- especially if they are delivering antibiotics to protect people from anthrax."

That may someday become the unofficial motto of the U.S. Postal Service.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt yesterday proposed a solution to one of the bigger challenges in responding to an anthrax bioterrorism attack -- how to deliver protective antibiotics to tens of thousands of people overnight.

The tentative answer: have the mailman (and -woman) do the job.

As an incentive to the letter carriers -- who would be volunteers -- the government would issue them in advance an antibiotic supply large enough to treat themselves and their families. They would also be accompanied by police officers on their rounds.

"We have found letter carriers to be the federal government's quickest and surest way of getting pills to whole communities," Leavitt said.

The strategy has the full support of the Postal Service and its unions, spokesmen said. ....