Pakistani authorities on Friday confirmed three cases of anthrax had been found in the country, but said no one had contracted the deadly disease.
"There were three organisations these cases have been confirmed but fortunately nobody has been infected," Attur Rehman, minister for science and technology, told AFP, adding the cases were uncovered at a bank, a computer company and a newspaper.
"Four people were treated in hospital, but there was no need for alarm, the hospitals have adequate facilities to deal with such cases," he added.
The bioterror attacks launched in the wake of the September 11 events in New York and Washington have claimed four lives in the United States, where almost all the confirmed anthrax cases have occurred.
Amid fears the bioterror attacks may be spreading to Asia, Pakistan's biggest-selling daily earlier said suspicious white powder received by the newspaper last week had contained anthrax spores.
Editor Mahmood Sham told AFP the contaminated envelope was sent to a reporter for the Urdu-language newspaper 'Jang', but no one was believed infected.
"Last week we received this letter and we sent it to the hospital for tests and on Thursday the report confirmed it contained anthrax," he said.
Jang has closed its editorial section after the letter was hand delivered to its Karachi office and staff were moved to other offices. Microbiologists were hired to disinfect the building, Sham said. About 80 staff had been put on a 60-day course of antibiotics.
Rehman's announcement came as in neighbouring India the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Chagan Bhujbal, said one set of laboratory tests had confirmed that a letter sent to his office contained anthrax spores.
But the results had not been confirmed by the Bombay-based Haffkine Institute of Training, which the state government has asked to examine 67 envelopes and the letter will be forwarded to a third laboratory for further tests.

A Pakistani man was also said by his doctor to have contracted anthrax last week after a letter containing the potentially deadly disease was delivered to the foreign bank where he worked.
The man was admitted to the Agha Khan hospital in Karachi this week but his condition was not life-threatening, said the doctor, on condition of anonymity.
Another letter suspected of containing Anthrax was delivered to the Karachi offices of Dell computer company. Suspicious letters have also been sent to Jang's offices in Quetta, Rawalpindi and London over the past two weeks. Jang management spokesman Sarmad Ali said preventive measures including providing gloves for staff were being taken. "It is not only a concern for us, but for everyone, and we are taking all possible measures including disinfecting our editorial section," he said.
Investigating police officer Majeed Dasti described the anthrax scares as terrorism adding investigations were underway. "This is a serious issue. This is terrorism and it can kill people."
Bureau Report