Pentagon: Live Anthrax Accidentally Sent to Labs in US, S Korea
by VOA News May 27, 2015
The Pentagon said Wednesday that a U.S. military laboratory in the state of Utah accidentally sent live anthrax spores to civilian commercial labs in nine states and a military lab in South Korea.
Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren sought to reassure the American public, saying there was no known risk and no suspected or confirmed cases of infection in lab workers.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control was investigating. Warren said the Pentagon had stopped shipping anthrax spores until the investigation was complete.
The U.S. labs and the one in South Korea were supposed to get dead spores as part of a Pentagon program to develop a test to identify biological threats in the field. But somehow, the Utah lab sent live spores instead.
Contact with live anthrax can lead to a severe flu-like illness that could be fatal if not treated early.
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