Live anthrax shipped accidentally to S Korea and US labs
Live anthrax shipped accidentally to S Korea and US labs
The US military accidentally sent live anthrax samples to as many as nine labs across the country and to a US military base in South Korea, the Pentagon says.
Twenty-two military personnel at the Osan Air Base in South Korea are receiving preventive treatment after being possibly exposed to the sample.
In the US, four civilians are receiving treatment - although they face a "minimal risk".
A Defence Department lab in Utah "inadvertently" shipped the samples.
The personnel at the South Korean base might have come into contact with the anthrax sample during a "training event", the US military said, but so far none had shown "any signs" of exposure.
However, they were given "appropriate medical precautionary measures to include examinations, antibiotics and in some instances, vaccinations".
"The sample was destroyed in accordance with appropriate protocols," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren.
Experts in biosafety say they are astonished by the lapse and called for greater precautions.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has begun an investigation into the incident.
"Out of an abundance of caution, [the Defence Department] has stopped the shipment of this material from its labs pending completion of the investigation," said Col Warren.
Samples involved in the investigation will be securely transferred to CDC or affiliated laboratories "for further testing", CDC spokeswoman Kathy Harden said.
Ms Harden said that the CDC has also sent officials to the labs "to conduct on-site investigations".
The latest incident comes nearly a year after the CDC, one of the government's foremost civilian laboratories, also mishandled anthrax, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Ten to one odds says it was an "affirmative action candidate" that made this serious mistake...Tyr
18 U.S. Code § 2381-Treason Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
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Originally Posted by Tyr-Ziu Saxnot
