A New Jersey infectious disease lab seems to be plagued with an inability to keep track of research mice infected with dangerous pathogens. The facility, part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, seems to have misplaced two frozen carcasses of mice infected with bubonic plague last December, the linkurl:New Jersey Star Ledger;http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-12/123398465742360.xml&coll=1&thispage=2 reported this weekend. According to the facility, the Public Health Research Institute, the bag containing the two dead mice probably stuck to another bag of biomaterials in the freezer heading for incineration, and was burned. The Public Health Research Institute is a biosafety level 3 lab that studies Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, and other pathogens. After the infected carcasses were discovered to be missing, the institute notified federal authorities immediately, and according to the FBI, the dead animals do not pose a public health threat. Even so, the incident underscores the...
Interested in reading more?
Become a Member of
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
