April 12, 2011: At 9:30am at the Holiday Inn Express in the 7000 block of Bullard Avenue, New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD) responded to a call of an employee with an itchy neck. The employee, a woman, said that she opened a letter that was mailed to her at her home while she was on the way to work. According to officials, the woman said that when she opened the letter "a mist-type powdery substance came out, but she didn't think anything of it." Authorities told local news sources that "She continued on to work and once she got to work her skin began to itch."

The woman's itching stopped shortly after NOFD arrived but officials decided to have the HAZMAT team dispatched to the location.

The team quarantined hotel guests in their rooms and decontaminated 12 hotel employees who had contact with the woman. Three firefighters and three New Orleans police officers who first responded to the call were also decontaminated.

Though the HAZMAT team performed decontamination procedures on over a dozen people, no one else suffered any of the symptoms.

The female employee who intially came into contact with the package was herself quarantined for testing and cleaning.

The NOFD HAZMAT team declared the incident a level two HAZMAT emergency but later on determined that the material in the package was non-toxic.

The NOFD HAZMAT team, New Orleans Police, Louisiana State Police, the US Postal Service, ATF and the FBI were all at the scene and jointly opened an investigation into the incident which is currently ongoing.

The package was sent to the Louisiana State Police crime lab in Shreveport to determine whether it was toxic.

Though the NOFD HAZMAT team intially determined the package non-toxic at the scene, more adavnced testing will be performed at the lab.

Authorities are investigating the possibility that the package originated from the Louisiana State University (LSU) medical center.

Local news reports state that responders noted a return address to LSU on the package though investigators will neither confirm nor deny this.