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Traditionally, the agency has deferred to state and local health officials to disclose health information. But that strategy was not effective in the recent anthrax attacks. As cases were detected in several states, there was a critical lack of a national voice to prevent confusion, said Dr. John Agwunobi, the Florida secretary of health. State health officials also praised the disease control centers for providing their expertise on anthrax. One Postal Service official, Suzanne Medvidovich, senior vice president for human resources, praised the agency's experts for their willingness to make decisions and for their availability to inform workers about anthrax. During the outbreak, medical investigators were trying to gather data and conduct tests like nasal swabs and blood tests to see if they might be effective in detecting anthrax, Dr. Agwunobi said, although their usefulness had not been proved

No new case of anthrax has been reported since Otillie Lundgren, 94, of Oxford, Conn., developed a fatal case in mid-November. But, [James M. Hughes] said, whoever spread the anthrax 'has a dangerous weapon and a willingness to use it, so we have to maintain vigilance and be prepared to detect additional cases.'

Dr. Arnold Kaufmann, who has investigated anthrax at the disease centers, said that studies were needed to determine whether adding a second bacteria, even one that usually did not cause illness, to Bacillus anthracis in a bacterial cocktail could create a more severe disease than anthrax, and thus an even more dangerous weapon. The little experience American doctors have had with anthrax involved cases in mills and tanneries that imported goat hair and animal hides contaminated with Bacillus anthracis. Many mill workers were known to have been exposed to spores small enough (less than 5 microns) to pass into the air sacs of the lungs and produce inhalation anthrax. But scientists do not know why so many workers who were exposed to large numbers of spores every day did not become ill. Perhaps continuous exposure led to some type of immunity, participants said. Dr. Philip S. Brachman, an epidemiologist at Emory University who investigated anthrax cases for the disease centers from the late 1950's to the 1970's, said the presence of any anthrax spores ''in an office environment is dangerous.''

One priority is to determine what liquid disinfectants are most effective against anthrax spores, said Dorothy Canter, an E.P.A. official. A second need is to determine the most effective environmental sampling techniques before and after cleanup measures are started to detect spores that could germinate. A third is to determine whether a ''magic bullet'' exists to clean up contaminated areas and articles, Ms. Canter said. The scientists wore protective gear and moved carefully to avoid disturbing the office environment, placing 17 plates around Mr. [Tom Daschle]'s office to sample the air. The plates contained a blood agar gel that would allow anthrax spores, if any, to grow. The plates were left from 45 minutes to an hour in the sixth-floor room where the letter was opened on Oct. 15, the scientists said

The National Institutes of Health is set to begin its first full-scale tests of a vaccine for people already infected with the AIDS virus, the vaccine's manufacturer said yesterday. In the tests, injections of the vaccine, Remune, will be added to standard combination drug therapy for H.I.V., the AIDS virus. Such drugs can halt reproduction of H.I.V. in infected cells but do not eradicate the virus from those who are infected. Remune is intended to be a therapeutic vaccine, to stimulate the immune system to destroy H.I.V.-infected cells. Vaccines are routinely given to prevent polio and many other infections. If the tests are successful, Remune would be the first therapeutic vaccine for any disease to work in those already infected. But the vaccine is not expected to cure AIDS