Live anthrax found in US military sample sent to Australia

Live anthrax has been found in a 2008 sample sent to Australia. The discovery was made during the investigation into the US Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah that was cited for the other mistaken shipments.

US army sends live anthrax to Australia

File image of worker in biohazard suit. Source: AP

Live anthrax has been found in a 2008 sample sent to Australia from the same US Army facility identified this week for more recent, mistaken shipments to 11 US states and an air base in South Korea, a US defense official said on Friday.

The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not know what kind of facility in Australia received the sample, which, like the others, was meant to have been inactive.

The discovery was made during the investigation into the US Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah that was cited for the other mistaken shipments.

The Pentagon says there are no suspected infections or risk to the general public.

However the Pentagon is advising laboratories that received 'inactive' anthrax from the US Military to stop working with those samples.

It says 24 laboritories in the US and internationally are believed to have received suspect anthrax samples.

 


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Source: Reuters, SBS


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