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posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 26 2018, @04:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the keeping-the-bugs-contained dept.

A new CDC lab will cost up to $480 million:

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it needs to replace its aging high containment lab, which handles some of the world's most dangerous contagions.

The project would cost $350 million to build. But over three years, the total budget could reach $480 million, also funding campus infrastructure improvements, such as extending utility tunnels to support the new lab. The CDC is in the early stages of asking Congress for the funds.

In its current "high containment lab" (HCL), the CDC develops and performs diagnostic tests for the deadliest disease threats, including emerging influenza viruses and viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola and Lassa fever.

[...] Without investment, the CDC's current lab will be left with only a fraction of its current research space and the agency will fall behind in protecting, defending and responding to infectious disease threats. In the next few years, it faces a risk of an unplanned and potentially catastrophic shutdown.

Meanwhile, a CDC employee has been missing since he called in sick from work.

Also at Time.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:38AM (#644365)

    I'd hope so, but the CDC did have a containment issue a few years ago and people might see this as an opportunity to stop this kind of research. The ban on "gain of function" research just ended not too long ago and Hollywood plots seem to influence the public's opinions on the subject.