Anthrax Scare Is Latest CDC Lab Security Lapse

An anthrax scare is the latest in a string of safety and security lapses at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal agency charged with preventing the spread of infectious diseases. Roughly 84 workers at CDC’s Atlanta headquarters may have been exposed to the deadly bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, after a breach at the agency’s Bioterrorism Rapid Response and Advanced Technology Laboratory, the agency confirmed today. The number of workers being monitored for anthrax was revised from 75 when the lab breach was announced Thursday. “We are devastated. It is unacceptable. This is what we do best,” Paul Mecham of CDC’s Environment Health and Safety Compliance Office told ABC News. “Our people are our number one resource. We are going to find out what went wrong and we are going to fix it.”

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