As facilities throughout the U.S. receive anthrax threat letters - whether they're false alarms or contain actual biological agents - the Center for Disease Controls (CDC) has issued an official health advisory, which provides procedures for handling such incidents.
1. Do not panic
Anthrax organisms can cause infection in the skin, gastrointestinal system or the lungs. To do so, the organism must be rubbed into abraded skin, swallowed or inhaled as a fine, aerosolized mist. Disease can be prevented after exposure to the anthrax spores by early treatment with the appropriate antibiotics. Anthrax is not spread from one person to another.