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US officials are investigating after the Pentagon mistakenly shipped live anthrax spores to government and commercial laboratories in as many as nine states, as well as one overseas.

They had expected to receive dead spores.

"At this time we do not suspect any risk to the general public," Centres for Disease Control and Prevention spokeswoman Kathy Harben said.

The suspected live anthrax samples were shipped from Dugway Proving Ground, an Army facility in Utah, using a commercial delivery service, said Pentagon spokesman, Col Steve Warren.

He said the government has confirmed one recipient, a laboratory in Maryland, received live spores. It is suspected, but not yet confirmed, that anthrax sent to labs in as many as eight other states also contained live spores.

Later he said an anthrax sample from the same batch at Dugway also was sent to a US military laboratory at Osan air base in South Korea; no personnel there have shown signs of exposure and the sample was destroyed.

"There is no known risk to the general public, and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection in potentially exposed lab workers," he said.

A US official said four people in three commercial labs had worked with the suspect anthrax samples and the CDC has recommended the four be provided "post-exposure prophylaxis," or preventive treatment.

The anthrax samples were shipped to labs in Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, California and Virginia.

The Defence Department has halted the shipment pending completion of the investigation, Col Warren said.

Contact with anthrax spores can cause severe illness.

The US military has ordered a review of how it handles anthrax after discovering more cases of live samples being accidentally sent to labs.

Live anthrax samples were believed to have been sent to a total of 24 labs, in 11 US states as well as South Korea and Australia, the Pentagon said.
The Pentagon says that there is no known risk to the general public.
Experts in biosafety have heavily criticised the lapse and called for improved precautions.
Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, and can cause death if untreated.

Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, and can cause death if untreated.

MajGenl.Meade wrote:

Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, and can cause death if untreated.

I wonder how long before....

Lord Jim wrote:How do you watch porn with your eyes closed?

Joe Guy wrote:

MajGenl.Meade wrote:

Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, and can cause death if untreated.

I wonder how long before....

did I ever tell you about back in the 80 s when I used to snort anthrax?

Joe Guy wrote:

MajGenl.Meade wrote:

Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, and can cause death if untreated.

I wonder how long before....

did I ever tell you about back in the 80 s when I used to snort anthrax?

More than 50 labs in 17 US states and three foreign countries have been mailed samples of live anthrax, Pentagon officials have said.

The announcement on Wednesday doubled the number of incidents in the US. A smaller number of shipments were revealed last week.
Staff members at some of the labs have been treated for anthrax exposure as a precaution, but no one has fallen ill.
The Pentagon has maintained there is no risk to the general public.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is leading the investigation into the incidents.
US Defense official Robert Work told reporters that the number of affected laboratories is expected to rise.
Experts in biosafety have heavily criticised the lapse and called for improved precautions.

Symptoms of anthrax exposure include skin ulcers, nausea, vomiting and fever, and can cause death if untreated.
The military has ordered all of its labs that have previously received inactive anthrax samples to test them. In addition it is advising all labs to cease working with these samples until told otherwise.

Pentagon officials say there was no sign the live samples were sent due to any deliberate action
The samples were mailed from a Utah Army facility by commercial post to laboratories over the past ten years.
In addition to the US labs, samples were sent to facilities in Australia, Canada and South Korea.

Washington (CNN)The Pentagon is now investigating whether live anthrax was brought into the Pentagon building itself, CNN has learned exclusively.

The Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the Pentagon's police force, is one of the agencies that received questionable U.S. Army shipments of anthrax. That shipment now must be tested to see if its live rather than dead pathogen.

The Pentagon police received a shipment of what was supposed to be dead anthrax agent from one of three original lots, all of which are now shown to contain live, rather than dead anthrax.

Washington (CNN)In what is emerging as a widening military investigation into the accidental shipment of live anthrax, the Army discovered it may have shipped the live pathogen to Australia back around 2008 or 2009, the Pentagon said Friday.

Following the discovery that 22 shipments of live anthrax had been sent over the past year to private labs and a U.S. military facility in South Korea, a lab in Dugway, Utah, where the samples originated, went back and checked further into its inventory, according to a Defense Department official.

It discovered a still-live batch of anthrax from 2008. Records showed some had been shipped to Australia, but the official could not immediately verify if the shipment had been made in 2008 or 2009, or whether the spores in the shipment to Australia were found to be live. The official said the Australians were notified.