Comments

While I understand the importance of storing and studying historically significant virulents; I was somewhat concerned by the process that the CDC uses to test. In the article you cited (which was very interesting by the way!), a scientist went through appropriate high-level security to gain access the agent, removed it from the high-tech, terrorist-proof freezer, secured it...and THEN (I would think unnecessarily) REMOVED IT from the room, brought it down the corridor, and into ANOTHER AREA of the compound to inject into mice?? Wouldn't it have been easier to bring the mice to it? Why not minimize the risk by conducting any associated research in the same room where the agents are stored? Or certainly in an adjacent room, with only one entrance from the storage area.

I'd say that there could be several steps taken out of that process to reduce risk.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at January 31, 2006 12:28 PM

Meanwhile, additional human cases of bird flu are reported, including in Iraq now....
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/updates/en/index.html

Posted by Walter Babetski at January 31, 2006 2:06 PM