Pentagon mistakenly ships live anthrax to labs, Korean bases

Washington, May 28

The Pentagon accidentally shipped live samples of deadly anthrax to private laboratories in nine US states and bases in South Korea, forcing authorities to put 26 workers in post-exposure treatment.

Four lab workers in the United States and up to 22 overseas have been put in the post-exposure treatment after the US military inadvertently shipped live anthrax samples to nine states late last month, a defense official said.

The anthrax samples were shipped via FedEx on April 29, a defense official told CNN. The shipments, thought to be dead, were shipped under less rigorous conditions than the live agent protocol.

Officials are concerned because samples left over at the lab in Dugway, Utah, where the samples originated, were tested and determined to contain live agent.

Earlier, the Pentagon said a probe has been launched into the major lapse on part of a laboratory of the Department of Defense.

“There is no known risk to the general public, and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection in potentially exposed lab workers,” said Steve Warren Pentagon spokesman.

The Department of Defense (DOD) is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their investigation of the inadvertent transfer of samples containing live Bacillus anthracis, also known as anthrax, from a lab in Dugway, Utah, to labs in nine States, he said. The DoD lab was working as part of a DoD effort to develop a field-based test to identify biological threats in the environment, Warren said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, DoD has stopped the shipment of this material from its labs pending completion of the investigation,” he said.

“One sample of Anthrax was also sent to the Joint United States Forces Korea (USFK) Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition Program at Osan Air Base,” Warren said.

Up to 22 people in a training laboratory were exposed, according to a statement from the base.

Five active duty Air Force members, 10 active duty Army members, three civilian officials and four contractors are now getting preventative treatment in South Korea, a defence official said.

“All personnel were provided appropriate medical precautionary measures to include examinations, antibiotics and in some instances, vaccinations,” the statement said. “None of the personnel have shown any signs of possible exposure,” it said, adding that the facility was decontaminated afterward and the anthrax destroyed. — PTI