Breaking News: C.D.C. forced to close Anthrax and Flu labs after exposure to workers

The smallpox cells as seen through a microscope.
Diane Lilli
Posted

Anthrax, Flu H5N1 and Smallpox mistakes at C.D.C.

I am upset, I'm angry, and I'm working on it until the issue is resolved.”
C.D.C. director Dr. Thomas Frieden

Smallpox is a disease caused by the Variola major virus. Some experts say that over the centuries it has killed more people than all other infectious diseases combined. Worldwide immunization stopped the spread of smallpox three decades ago. The last case was reported in 1977. Two research labs still keep small amounts of the virus. Experts fear bioterrorists could use the virus to spread disease. )NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

In a frightening and embarrassing breach of protocol, the Center for Disease Control (C.D.C.) announced last night it was forced to close two major labs handling highly infectious diseases yesterday.

Federal health officers reported they had to close a flu lab and also an Anthrax lab at their C.D.C. headquarters in Atlanta.

They also said they halted all shipments of any and all infectious items that were being sent from their very secure labs on site.

There were numerous accidents, and now, the director of the C.D.C. reported yesterday these accidents exposed at least 62 workers to the deadly Anthrax and flu virus on site.

More disturbing is the reality that any staff infected unknowingly by this breach would then have potentially shared their infectious virus with outsiders - in the public.

One incident reported workers did not wear any protective clothing while working with bacteria, because the bacteria was supposed to be dead. Instead, it was very much alive. After this first startling incident, the workers were given vaccine shots and a course of follow-up antibiotics.

The second incident occurred at the C.D.C. when a more typical flu virus was somehow mistakenly contaminated with the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain. This H5N1 is responsible for almost 400 deaths since it first was discovered in 2003, and with this new contamination could create more deadly virus spores. The C.D.C. reports they caught the error before it infected anyone.

Lastly, vials of smallpox from as long ago as 1954 had been found in old containers, and were filled with the live smallpox virus. These vials were found during a clean up in storage areas in Atlanta at the C.D.C.

Though the C.D.C. reported this incident, they plan to map out the smallpox genome first, and then destroy the two live cultures.

C.D.C. director Dr. Thomas Frieden said he is distraught over the dangerous mistakes handling such deadly virus samples.

"I am upset, I'm angry, and I'm working on it until the issue is resolved," he noted in a statement to the press.

With such potentially dangerous accidents or incidents that could trigger a world-wide epidemic, all eyes are on the C.D.C.

Updates to follow.