Atlanta CDC lab Ebola specimen handling error, Laboratory technician placed under observation for possible exposure, Lab specimen mix up, Ebola virus samples moved to lower security lab

“Sooner or later someone in the US will come in contact with Ebola contagion & go undetected. They will then infect many others.”…Citizen Wells

“We are making this up as we go”…Dr. Michael Oserholm

“You can see that these doctors, who are highly trained people, got themselves infected,”
“So sending troops into an area, if they’re dealing one-on-one with a patient, they’re not going to be able to protect themselves very well. It’s not easy to [prevent transmission], because you get tired and you get careless and you make some simple mistakes. All it takes is one virus particle.”…Dr. Lee Hieb, former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

From Reuters December 25, 2014.

“CDC worker monitored for possible Ebola exposure in lab error”

“A laboratory technician for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been placed under observation for possible exposure to the deadly Ebola virus due to an apparent mix-up in lab specimens, the Atlanta-based agency said on Wednesday.

The technician, who was working on Monday with Ebola specimens that were supposed to have been inactivated but which may instead have contained live virus, will be monitored for signs of infection for 21 days, the disease’s incubation period, CDC officials said.

The error follows two high-profile cases of mishandled samples of anthrax and avian influenza at the CDC earlier this year that called into question safety practices at the highly respected research institute and drew criticism from Capitol Hill.”

“The problem occurred when active Ebola virus samples were believed to have been mixed up with specimens that had been rendered inactive for further testing in a lower-security lab down the hall, Reynolds said.

When inactivated specimens turned up the next day in storage, lab personnel realized that they apparently had transferred the wrong samples, ones that had contained active virus material, out of the higher-security lab, Reynolds said.

CDC officials could not be certain because the material in question had by then been destroyed and the lower-security lab decontaminated under routine safety procedures, she said.

The technician who handled the samples had worn protective gloves and a gown but not a face mask, she said. Ebola virus is not airborne. In a lab environment, it could be transmitted from a contaminated surface through physical contact that spreads the virus to the eyes, nose or mouth of an individual.”

Read more:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/25/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKBN0K21BQ20141225