At least 75 scientists at a Georgia facility for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were possibly exposed to anthrax, the agency said Thursday.
The workers may have been exposed to anthrax, a rare and deadly form of bacteria, in early June after one of the Atlanta-based center's laboratories failed to sterilize live samples of the bacteria, ABC News reported. The samples were transported to another laboratory where scientists handled them without wearing protective equipment.
"We are devastated. It is unacceptable," Paul Mecham, from the CDC's Environment Health and Safety Compliance Office, told ABC News. "This is what we do best. Our people are our number one resource. We are going to find out what went wrong and we are going to fix it."
The samples were destroyed and the scientists were given antibiotics. Officials are monitoring the workers for anthrax symptoms, but it can take two months for signs of the disease to show, according to the CDC.
Anthrax, caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is an infectious disease that has a mortality rate of 85 percent when inhaled and left untreated. The disease is 45 percent fatal even with treatment, according to the CDC.
Live samples of the disease were supposed to be neutralized in the Bioterrorism Rapid Response and Advanced Technology Laboratory. But the bacterium was somehow transported and used for experiments in two different labs while it was still lethal, the CDC told the station.
Both labs did not have the proper equipment to deal with the live disease because the samples were thought to be safe. The lethal spores may have been turned into gas form and sprayed in the air during the experiments between June 6 and June 13, the agency told the station.
It wasn't until the samples were collected for disposal when the CDC realized the spores were alive.
Anthrax can spread by breathing in spores or consuming contaminated water or food, according to the CDC. It's also spread when a person with an open cut or wound handles domestic animals that contract the bacteria from the soil. However, anthrax cannot spread though human contact.
The CDC has decontaminated the affected labs and other exposed areas. The agency is investigating the breach, ABC News reported.
The public is not at risk of infection and the workers' risk of infection is low, the agency said. There is now word yet as to when the public will be notified if any workers are infected.
