The U.S. military mistakenly sent live anthrax bacteria to laboratories in nine U.S. states and a U.S. air base in South Korea, after apparently failing to properly inactivate the bacteria last year, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The Pentagon said there was no known suspected infection or risk to the public.Twenty-two personnel at the base in South Korea were also given precautionary medical treatment although none have shown signs of exposure, the U.S. military said.
The four people exposed to the bacteria in the United States face “minimal” risk, said Jason McDonald, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has begun an investigation of the incident.
The anthrax, which was initially sent from a Utah military lab, was meant to be shipped in an inactive state as part of efforts to develop a field-based test to identify biological threats, the Pentagon said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, (the Defense Department) has stopped the shipment of this material from its labs pending completion of the investigation,” said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren.
The CDC said it has launched an investigation into the mishap.
All samples involved in the investigation will be securely transferred to the CDC or affiliated labs for further testing, spokeswoman Kathy Harden said, adding that CDC has sent officials to the labs “to conduct on-site investigations.”
A similar incident last spring, in which CDC scientists shipped what they thought was a benign form of bird flu but which was actually a highly virulent strain, led U.S. lawmakers to fault a “dangerous pattern” of safety lapses at government labs.
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