Officials say 22 people at a US air base in South Korea are in post-exposure treatment after US military mistakenly shipped LIVE anthrax...and some were sent by Fed Ex!
- Officials at a U.S. air base in South Korea said 22 personnel are in treatment after the U.S. mistakenly sent live anthrax to an Army lab
- The Pentagon admitted Wednesday that it inadvertently shipped live anthrax spores to nine laboratories and South Korea
- Some of the samples were sent by Fed Ex with no safety protocols
- The labs were supposed to receive dead — or inactivated — anthrax samples for research use
By DAVID MCCORMACK FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and REUTERS REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 20:36 EST, 28 May 2015 | UPDATED: 03:40 EST, 29 May 2015
U.S. officials say that 22 people overseas have been put in post-exposure treatment after the U.S. military inadvertently shipped live anthrax spores -- some via normal Fed Ex -- across the country and to South Korea.
A U.S. defense official admitted on Wednesday that the Pentagon shipped the live spores to nine states as well as to Osan Air Base, a U.S. station in South Korea.
Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said Thursday that the 22 personnel being treated at Osan include 10 U.S. Army members, five members of the U.S. air Force, three U.S. government civilians, and four contractors.
Treatment: Officials say 22 personnel at a U.S. base in South Korea have been put in post-exposure treatment after the U.S. military shipped live anthrax -- some by Fed Ex -- across the U.S. and to Korea (actual sample not pictured)
'Twenty-two personnel may have been exposed during the training event and all personnel were provided appropriate medical precautionary measures to include examinations, antibiotics and in some instances, vaccinations,' U.S. officials said in a statement on Wednesday.
'None of the personnel have shown any signs of possible exposure.'
The anthrax has been cordoned off the base, decontaminated, and destroyed, the base said in the statement.
The labs were supposed to receive dead — or inactivated — anthrax samples for research use.
The Pentagon confirmed an investigation into the incident was underway and said there was no public health risk.
A Defense Department official said some of the live samples were sent by Fed Ex, CNN reports.
The samples were shipped under less secure conditions than active agents would have been because the anthrax shipments were thought to be dead, CNN reports.
Spokesman Col. Steve Warren says the Pentagon is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to retrieve the samples.
The government has confirmed one shipment contained live spores to a private lab in Maryland and suspects the others did, too.
The live spores were shipped from Dugway Proving Ground in Utah — a Defense Department facility — to government and commercial labs in Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, California, Virginia, and to an Army lab in South Korea.
Contact with anthrax spores can cause severe illness.
Health Risk: The Pentagon has confirmed that an investigation into the incident is underway and said there is no public health risk
+++
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3101792/Officials-say-22-treatment-military-ships-live-anthrax.html]
[Hey guys, you are supposed to be sending this to NORTH Korean bases.]