CDC reports potential Ebola exposure in Atlanta lab

[Bosonic]

Source: Washington Post

One scientist may have been exposed to the Ebola virus and as many as a dozen others are being assessed for potential exposure at a lab of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agency officials said Wednesday.

The potential exposure took place Monday when scientists conducting research on the virus at a high-security lab mistakenly put a sample containing the potentially infectious virus in a place where it was transferred for processing to another CDC lab, also in Atlanta on the CDC campus.

The technician has no symptoms of illness and is being monitored for 21 days. Agency spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said others who entered the lab have been contacted and will be assessed for possible exposure by CDC clinicians. She said the number of exposures could be much less than a dozen.

Agency officials said there was no possible exposure outside the secure laboratory at CDC and no exposure or risk to the public. The mistake took place Monday afternoon and was discovered by laboratory scientists Tuesday and reported to leadership within an hour of the discovery.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-reports-potential-ebola-exposure-in-atlanta-lab/2014/12/24/f1a9f26c-8b8e-11e4-8ff4-fb93129c9c8b_story.html

[Omaha Steve]

1. How in the hello did this happen?

[uppityperson]

4. happy merry Steve and I have to say auto correct made me smile

I just learned how to finger swoop type vs touch each letter and it comes up with some odd stuff

[LiberalArkie]

2. How in the heck do so many experienced lab people get exposed in a lab?

Saying they didn't know is was Ebola doesn't cut it. They don't exposed when they are testing flu viruses do they?

[jeff47]

3. Yes, they do get exposed when testing flu viruses.

Mistakes happen. Protocols help prevent them, but no protocol stops all mistakes.

[LiberalArkie]

5. Yea, I know that happens sometimes in hospital labs, not very often.

But the CDC? They test the serious crap. I can understand losing vials. I can understand misplacing vials. But for that many techs to go around touching the blood and each other just doesn't sound right. Was it labeled "flu vaccine" accidentally?

[Posteritatis]

9. It doesn't look like they all contacted the sample, from the article

"And each other" is the completely mundane part and could probably be things as simple as two regular coworkers passing through the same doorway or something. My guess would be that one person might have been exposed and they're keeping an eye on everyone that tech worked closely with.

The extent of the precautions there would be part of the seriousness you're talking about - any BSL-4 facility's going to err way on the side of caution if they even suspect the possibility of something going wrong, to a point that would look like a huge frantic reaction to layfolk. The basic procedure there is to treat any kind of suspected issue as though someone had let loose weaponized smallpox or something like that.

[LiberalArkie]

10. I went back and re-read the article and it seems t be a bad but basically accidental

mishap. For some reason I had read something that 10 people had been exposed and trying to figure just how in the heck that could happen at the CDC. Since I am turning 67 next month, I have been trying to watch how I interpret things. Thanks for catching me,.

[branford]

6. Merry effen' Christmas, just when Ebola was no longer a major news story . . .

Nevertheless, I hope and pray for the good health of those exposed to the virus.

[mainer]

7. Mistakes happen more often than you'd think

In his book THE HOT ZONE, Richard Preston lists how many mishaps have occurred simply because someone's hand slipped while handling a deadly specimen. People make mistakes.

[A Simple Game]

8. Ebola outbreak? That's so... pre-election.

Did everyone else notice that as soon as the election was over the Republican outrage about the epidemic in the US went away?

Of course the epidemic was only in the minds of the Republicans and the media to begin with.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. Somehow

I'm sure Obama is to blame!
if necessary

[cynzke]

12. Better Get Issa.....

This calls for a congressional investigation! All those new congressmen will want to get in on the action!

[greymattermom]

13. time to increase funding at the CDC

Right? We need good science to deal with bad bugs. How did they do in the 2015 budget?