OREM — Police are investigating the origin of a powdery substance that spilled from a just-opened package at an Orem company Monday afternoon, prompting evacuation of the building and sending three employees to an area hospital.

The Symantec Corp. employees suffered nausea and sweating following the incident that involved a package containing a book that had been sent to the company from a New York business.

Police quickly evacuated the building at 1359 N. Research Drive, and the three employees were taken to Timpanogos Regional Hospital, where hospital spokeswoman Jackie Brown reported late Monday that "their condition is undetermined."

"We're treating this as a suspicious package," Orem Police Capt. Karl Hirst said. "We're treating it as suspicious because of the symptoms (exhibited by the employees)."

Symantec is the world's largest maker of software to protect computers from viruses. Symantec has about 175 people working in an administration business unit in Orem and 150 people at a development lab in American Fork.

In an effort to determine if the powder was simply part of the packing material, Hirst said hazardous material investigators were trying to contact the New York company that sent the package.

As a precaution, investigators donned hazardous-material handling suits and equipment before entering the building to retrieve the package and its contents.

Such procedures have become commonplace since the fall of 2001 when anthrax residue was found in letters sent through the U.S. postal system in what officials called domestic terrorism.

Hirst said the FBI has been contacted concerning the Monday incident.

Brown said the hospital went into disaster mode to work with police.

The hospital was initially told to prepare for up to 50 patients. During the emergency phase, visitors and family members were being turned away. Because of potential contamination, family members were limited to communicating with patients by telephone. Non-emergency patients who arrived at the hospital for unrelated treatments were sent to other area hospitals, Brown said.

More than 100 medical personnel, administrators and clerical support stood by until the emergency was over.

The affected building also houses PowerQuest Corp. and the Global Service Desk of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Several Brigham Young University student who work as tech-support employees milled around near the evacuated building. They said the evacuation was so quick they were unable to retrieve personal belongings, including their car keys, one student said.

"It's unnerving something like this can happen," said Nathan Waters of Provo. "It was unexpected and kind of scary that people have ideas like this and have a desire to do harm to other people. You kind of wonder what's going on in their lives."

"It was a shock. It took us by surprise," said student employee David Fronk, also of Provo.

"It was pretty inconvenient," said Kevin Sidvar of Eagle Mountain.

In the fall of 2001, at least five deaths in the United States were attributed to anthrax contamination, some of which was spread through the postal system. Anthrax exposure can produce flu-like symptoms.

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E-mail: rodger@desnews.com