The military community may recall the slowly unfolding scandal involving the Army, live anthrax spores and a dozen unsuspecting research facilities both in the United States and in off shore military bases. For reasons still unknown, the Army accidentally sent several packages of live anthrax to labs around the world.

On Sept 1, the Pentagon admitted that the current tally of locations compromised by live anthrax include 194 laboratories in all 50 states in the U.S. and nine nations. This is double the amount the Pentagon reported in July.

The countries that were mailed live anthrax include Japan, United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, Norway and Switzerland.

The anthrax samples were sent as part of a 10-year program to study the poisonous material. However, such research requires deactivated spores, not live contagious ones. Luckily there have been no deaths or serious illnesses connected to the erroneously packaged anthrax. Thirty-one civilians and military members have been treated with antibiotics as a precaution.