The Health Ministry will meet with medical experts next week to discuss precautionary measures in dealing with an anthrax outbreak should one occur in Malaysia, said its minister Chua Jui Meng today.

However the minister stressed there have been no cases of anthrax in Malaysia and the meeting was simply a "precautionary measure".

"As far as I know, there is no anthrax here. The anthrax epidemic areas now are Central America, South America and some parts of Africa," he told reporters after attending a joint press conference with several MCA leaders in Kuala Lumpur.

Chua added that next week's meeting will see the presence of clinicians, laboratory experts and veterinarians.

"We will see what is the capability of our laboratories to detect anthrax and our clinicians to respond to the disease if someone comes down with it," he said.

Asked if Malaysia has the vaccine for anthrax, the minister replied, "We will find out at the meeting."

Bioterrorism fear

The Sun today reported that a letter re-routed from Malaysia to Nevada initially tested positive for anthrax, causing a major panic in the western state of the United States.

However, a second round of tests on the same item which was mailed to a branch office of software titan Microsoft showed negative results.

Following the retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan last week, there has been a widespread fear in the US of a possible biological warfare.

At least six Americans have been tested positive for exposure to the bacterium. Most of them have not shown symptoms of infection, including a low-grade fever, swollen lymph nodes and a rash but one was reported to have perished because of the disease last week.

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium. It most commonly occurs in animals but it can also occur in humans when they are exposed to infected animals or tissue from infected animals.

Security problem

Chua said the government was waiting for confirmation from the US on the final results of the letter, adding that it will also conduct its own investigation on the source of the letter.

"The authorities dealing with national security have to check the letter to find out who sent it and from where. It is a security problem," he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar today said the government will cooperate fully with the US to investigate the matter, adding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been asked to provide all relevant information on the case.

"As a matter of policy, the government wishes to state that it takes all such reports very seriously and will extend its fullest support and cooperation to the US authorities to investigate this matter thoroughly," said the minister according to an AFP report.