Anthrax sporesWIKIMEDIA, CDCThe US Department of Defense has announced that an Army facility in Utah mistakenly shipped live anthrax samples to labs in nine states and one overseas military base. The anthrax spores were supposed to be inactivated by radiation before shipping, but upon arriving at their destinations, they were determined to be live. Although a commercial shipping company transported the samples, the Pentagon and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is currently investigating the incident, have both said that the public was not likely exposed to the dangerous pathogen. “At this time we do not suspect any risk to the general public,” CDC spokesperson Kathy Harben told the Associated Press.
But the Pentagon did say that some people at a US Air Force Base in South Korea may have been exposed to anthrax. “Twenty-two personnel may have been exposed during the training event, and all personnel were provided appropriate medical precautionary measures to include examinations, antibiotics, and in some instances, vaccinations,” according to a statement from Osan Air Base, which is 65 miles south of Seoul, reported The Washington Post. “None of the personnel have shown any signs of possible exposure.”
The live anthrax spores were shipped to government and commercial labs in nine US states from Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The sample from which the spores were taken was used for training purposes. The US Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno told ...
