CDC Reveals 75 Workers May Have Been Exposed To Deadly Biochemical Agent

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that approximately 75 of its workers may have accidentally come into contact with anthrax this month due to a safety issue with its Atlanta labs.

According to independent experts, it’s the largest anthrax incident in the last decade involving a U.S. lab. The CDC said the exposure to the anthrax, which is a possible bioterrorism agent, is minimal. However, employees are being closely watched for symptoms and/or are being administered antibiotics.

An agency statement said an investigation believes the general public, other CDC staff and CDC-affected family members are not at risk for exposure and there’s no reason for protective action to be taken at this time.

The issue was uncovered June 13, when it was thought the anthrax went airborne in two labs in the previous week.  The lapse in security took place when a high-level biosecurity lab was messing with the anthrax samples to research new ways in which to learn of the germs in environmental samples. Unfortunately, the lab didn’t use a procedure that would completely inactive the anthrax.

Workers from three labs were not wearing the right protective gear when they came into contact with the infectious samples. The reason is that they thought the agent was inactive. Procedures from two other labs may have let the anthrax spores to get into the air.

The CDC said live bacteria were found last week on materials that were gathered to be thrown away. The hallways and labs have undergone testing and were decontaminated. They will open back up when they’ve been deemed safe to do so.

Workers who did not follow the proper procedures are going to be disciplined.

Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman, said the incident is very unfortunate and not tolerable. He said the agency is determined to learn why the incident happened and what they can do to ensure the incident does not occur again.

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Posted by News on Jun 19 2014. Filed under New. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.