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CONCORD — A New Hampshire woman who contracted a rare form of anthrax almost four months ago has been released from the hospital, and the building where she was exposed to the potentially fatal spores could re-open next week.
Kris Neilsen, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday the woman was recovering at home.
Meanwhile, Rev. Larry Brickner-Wood said clean-up work at the United Campus Ministry center near the University of New Hampshire in Durham was expected to be completed by Friday. Students and staff can return by the end of the week, pending the results of follow-up environmental testing, he said.
Authorities believe the woman, who has not been identified, swallowed naturally occurring anthrax spores propelled into the air during a drum circle she attended at the center in early December. She began feeling sick the next day and later was hospitalized in critical condition with gastrointestinal anthrax.
Other U.S. anthrax cases traced to drums covered with animal hides have been reported but those involved spores that were either inhaled into the lungs or entered through the skin of people who were exposed while making the drums. The gastrointestinal form usually occurs after eating raw or undercooked meat.
The ministry center, which houses eight UNH students and a food pantry, was shut down in late December. Anthrax spores later were found on two animal hide-covered drums, electrical outlets and other locations in the building.
Cyn Environmental Services conducted the cleanup, scrubbing and bleaching five rooms. Brickner-Wood said hundreds of books had to be thrown out, along with fabric-covered furniture, computers, and a piano.
Brickner-Wood said it was hard to dispose of the piano. But otherwise, "it's stuff. It's all stuff we can live without," he said.
Figuring out who will pay for the decontamination work has not gone as smoothly as the work itself, he said.
The center's insurance company has told him that it will not cover the $52,000 cleaning bill. He plans to appeal the decision. Also, Brickner-Wood estimates the center lost about $15,000 in property and faces a $20,000 bill for the environmental testing.
Officials have raised some money and are considering a fundraising event and taking out a loan, he said.
