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U.S. Military Mistakenly Ships Live Anthrax To Nine States

posted by CoolHand on Thursday May 28 2015, @09:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the suspicious-white-powder dept.

jbWolf sent in:

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 failing to properly inactivate the bacteria 11 months ago. The anthrax was initially sent from a Utah military lab and was meant to be shipped in an inactive state as part of efforts to develop a field-based test to identify biological threats. No one appears to have developed any symptoms, but have been given treatments as a precaution.

What went wrong? What are the best way to handle diseases such as this?

[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]

 
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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Sir Finkus on Friday May 29 2015, @12:51AM

    by Sir Finkus (192) on Friday May 29 2015, @12:51AM (#189424) Journal

    They should destroy the samples and keep the DNA sequences. Synthesize the organism from the DNA if they need to study it.

    I suspect that's much easier said than done, and not really worth the effort for such a common disease. That sort of thing might make sense if it was The Andromeda Strain or something. I'd be much more worried about "live" flu viruses accidentally being shipped even though it isn't as "sexy" as anthrax.

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @02:31AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @02:31AM (#189450)

    much more worried about "live" flu viruses accidentally being shipped

    "Live" flu is shipped all the time. People travel on boats.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @03:00PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 29 2015, @03:00PM (#189686)

      Indeed, people even disperse it in air. It's called sneezing.