Blake Hall
The anthrax saga just keeps getting better (read: worse) everyday.
Last week, the Department of Defense announced that live anthrax had been shipped to nine labs in the United States and a U.S. military base overseas. Yesterday, it was confirmed that anthrax was delivered on Pentagon property.
Today, officials told Stars and Stripes that live anthrax spores have been sent to four dozen laboratories across the United States and three nations. The scope of this enormous blunder is spreading like swine flu, and the government is no closer to figuring out how it came to be.
While the officials passed along this scoop under a cloak of anonymity, the DoD is expected to directly address this issue at a press conference later today.
UPDATE:
Make that 51 shipments of anthrax sent to 17 states and three countries.
Oy vey.
For a refresher on this issue, check out the full story at Stars and Stripes:
On Tuesday, in its most recent update, the Pentagon said potentially live anthrax samples had been mistakenly sent to labs in California, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Washington state. Also receiving suspect samples were labs in Australia, Canada and South Korea.
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters while traveling in Asia that the mistaken shipments were an “unfortunate incident.” He said the Pentagon will make “sure that any public health consequences of this are avoided” and ensure that it never happens again.
The Centers for Disease Control of Prevention said last week that four people at labs in Delaware, Texas and Wisconsin were recommended to get antibiotics as a precaution, although they were not sick. U.S. officials at Osan Air Base in South Korea said 22 people were being treated for possible exposure there after word surfaced that an Osan lab was among the facilities that received suspect anthrax.
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