The U.S. Defense Department is currently investigating "the inadvertent transfer of samples containing live anthrax" from a military lab at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren was quoted as saying.
Warren added the incident posed no public health risk.
Reports said that the anthrax sample was prepared at the Dugway facility as part of routine research and then shipped to labs in Maryland and eight other states, including Texas, New Jersey, New York, California and Virginia.
So far, the live sample was only found in Maryland, which received it on May 22.
Xinhua - china.org.cn
28/5/15
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Related:
L'armée américaine envoie par erreur de l'anthrax à son laboratoire !...
ReplyDeleteUn laboratoire militaire américain a expédié par erreur des bacilles actifs de la maladie du charbon (anthrax) à au moins un laboratoire privé américain, bévue a priori sans danger qui a conduit au traitement par précaution de quatre employés, a indiqué le Pentagone mercredi.
Les bacilles se trouvaient dans un lot qui avait été irradié pour tuer tous les bacilles actifs, puis partagé en plusieurs échantillons pour être expédiés à différents laboratoires, selon les explications d'un responsable américain.
Au moins l'un de ces laboratoires, situé dans le Maryland (est), a constaté la présence de bacilles actifs le 22 mai dans son échantillon, et donné l'alerte aux autorités.
Le Pentagone a indiqué que des laboratoires de neuf Etats américains avaient reçu des échantillons de ce lot, ainsi qu'un laboratoire militaire situé sur la base aérienne d'Osan, en Corée du Sud....rtl.be
28/5/15
As many as 22 people in South Korea and four US lab workers may have been exposed to anthrax after the American military accidentally shipped out at least one live sample, officials said...
ReplyDeleteThe four lab employees were undergoing medical treatment as a precaution after the military sent the sample inside the country to a commercial lab in Maryland, US officials said May 27....AFP....hurriyetdailynews.com
28/5/15
Human error likely not cause of anthrax mistake, U.S. army chief says...
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. Army's top general said Thursday that human error probably was not a factor in the Army's mistaken shipment of live anthrax samples from a chemical weapons testing site that was opened more than 70 years ago in a desolate stretch of desert in Utah.
Samples from the anthrax lot ended up at 18 labs in nine states and an Army lab in South Korea, leading more than two dozen people to get treatment for possible exposure.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, told reporters the problem may have been a failure in the technical process of killing, or inactivating, anthrax samples...AP..ctvnews.ca
US discovers more anthrax shipments...
ReplyDeleteThe US military has ordered a review of how it handles anthrax after discovering more cases of live samples being accidentally sent to labs.
Live anthrax samples were believed to have been sent to a total of 24 labs, in 11 US states as well as South Korea and Australia, the Pentagon said.
The Pentagon says that there is no known risk to the general public.
Experts in biosafety have heavily criticised the lapse and called for improved precautions.
Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, and can cause death if untreated.
'Live spores'
News of the live shipments first emerged on Wednesday, as the US said it had accidentally shipped live anthrax spores from Utah to labs in Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, California and Virginia, as well as an air base in South Korea.
Those shipments took place between March 2014 and April 2015, a US official said, according to Reuters.
On Friday, the Department of Defense said it had identified "additional inadvertent live anthrax shipments", including a suspect sample sent to Australia from a batch of anthrax from 2008.
It is not clear when that sample was shipped to Australia...........http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32941062
30/5/15