The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that reviews the early June incident that involved the unintentional exposure of personnel to potentially viable anthrax at the CDC’s Roybal Campus. The report identifies factors found to have contributed to the incident; and highlights actions taken by the agency to address these factors and prevent future incidents. Based on a review of all aspects of the June incident, CDC concluded that while it is not impossible that staff members were exposed to viable B. anthracis, it is extremely unlikely that this occurred. None of the staff who was potentially exposed has become ill with anthrax.
While finalizing this report, CDC leadership was made aware that earlier this year a culture of non-pathogenic avian influenza was unintentionally cross-contaminated at the CDC influenza laboratory with the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of influenza and shipped to a BSL-3 select-agent laboratory operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). There were no exposures as a result of that incident. The CDC influenza laboratory is now closed and will not reopen until adequate procedures are put in place. Further investigation, review, and action is underway.
CDC Director Releases After-Action Report on Recent Anthrax Incident; Highlights Steps to Improve Laboratory Quality and Safety
CDC Press Release
July 11, 2014
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0711-lab-safety.html
More problems shutter CDC labs, prompt review
Filed Under: Anthrax; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu); Biosecurity Issues; Dual-Use Research; Smallpox
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/07/more-problems-shutter-cdc-labs-prompt-review
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released a report on its investigation into a June anthrax incident at one of its labs, a process that led to new revelations that another of its labs unintentionally sent a sample containing highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza to another lab.
In a new development regarding another pathogen incident at a federal lab, CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, said ongoing tests on six vials labeled “variola” that had been abandoned in a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lab on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus yielded live smallpox virus.
He called the three lab incidents serious and troubling, and said workers at CDC’s labs, as well as the American people, depend on the CDC to protect their health. “These events should never have happened,” he said. “CDC labs are a national treasure—a national reference lab for the world.”
Frieden said the incidents serve as a wake-up call for the CDC to explore system changes that can prevent problems in the future. “The culture of lab safety needs to improve at some CDC labs.”
The revelations also cast new light on controversial gain-of-function (GOF) influenza research, according to several experts contacted by CIDRAP News today. Such research aims to further knowledge of flu viruses by identifying dangerous mutations.