Lethal bird flu cocktail sent out of lab accidentally, went unreported – CDC

August 16, 2014 04:34                                                                                                     

 www.RT.com

 

According an internal  investigation into the matter, the dangerous bird flu cocktail  was then administered to chickens as part of a US Department of  Agriculture (USDA), in which all of the chickens ended up dying.  As a result, USDA officials took another look at the bird flu  samples in May and notified the CDC that a deadly strain of the  virus was detected inside.

  No people fell ill due to the bird flu strain, the Associated Press reported, but it apparently  remained in circulation for months – it was originally concocted  in January – before scientists picked up on what was wrong.

  After the CDC confirmed the USDA’s findings, the team member in  charge chose not to notify those higher in the chain of command,  reportedly because “the viral mix was at all times contained  in specialized laboratories and was never a threat to the  public.”

However, when another lab reported similar problems – a Maryland  facility reported that more than 300 vials containing  influenza, dengue, and other pathogens were discovered in an  unused storage room – the team leader brought the dangerous bird  flu strain to the attention of more senior officials.

  Although it’s unclear exactly how the bird flu strain was  created, the report did clarify a couple of things. The lethal  strain was supposed to be handled separately from the less  dangerous one, and the entire process should take at least 90  minutes. The scientist involved, however, completed his work in  only 51 minutes in order to rush to a meeting, meaning that it’s  very likely “shortcuts” were taken. The CDC told the AP   “it’s possible the scientist worked on both strains at the  same time.”

This revelation comes in the wake of previous reports about lax  safety at CDC laboratories. As RT reported in June, about 84 scientists were  potentially exposed to anthrax after employees failed to properly  sterilize the deadly bacteria. Although no one became sick and no  reports of exposure have been filed, the eye-opening incident  sparked an investigation that revealed multiple failures in  safety protocol.

“These events revealed totally unacceptable behavior,”   CDC Director Tom Frieden said at the time. “They should never  have happened. I’m upset, I’m angry, I’ve lost sleep over this,  and I’m working on it until the issue is resolved.”

Both the flu lab and the anthrax lab have been closed, and the  anthrax lab director has since resigned.

  Another investigation, meanwhile, found that dangerous  microbes and “unidentified materials” were transported between  labs in plastic Ziploc bags – containers which fail to meet the  CDC’s “durability” requirement. In some cases, anthrax samples  were found to be missing and had to be tracked down, while others  were placed in unlocked labs not authorized to store the deadly  bacteria.

“An internal investigation found serious safety lapses,  including use of an unapproved sterilization technique and use of  a potent type of anthrax in an experiment that did not require a  live form of the germ,” the Associated Press reported in  July.