Ottilie Lundgren: The Sudden Sufferer Of An Anthrax Assault

Ottilie Lundgren was an innocent victim in a series of anthrax attacks that targeted American lawmakers and media outlets, per NPR. One week after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, numerous letters containing anthrax bacteria were mailed out to news outlets and members of Congress. But anthrax spores escaped the envelopes while in transit, harming at least 17 people unintentionally — two postal workers in Washington D.C. died from their exposure to it, while employees at NBC and CBS were also harmed. Ottilie Lundgren, age 94, was the fifth person to die from her exposure to the toxin, and she didn’t even live in the United States.

The first anthrax-filled letters were sent out in September, but it took months for the full scale of the damage to be revealed (via ​​the United States Department of Justice). On October 9, 2001, Lundgren’s mail was processed along with letters going to Senators Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle, which eventually went to Connecticut (per PBS). Daschle’s letter was opened six days later at the senator’s home by one of his aides.