Look at the terrorist nations who had access to it.never mind how many Muslims are employed in the other 5,000 labs.people are going to die because of this "error".
Bruce Scientists Scramble to Destroy Flu Strain By ERICA BULMAN, Associated Press Writer GENEVA - Countries around the world were destroying vials of a nearly 50-year-old killer flu virus Wednesday that were sent to thousands of labs as part of a routine test kit, raising fears of a global pandemic. The World <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/ap/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_flu_labs/14 866092/*http:/news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Worl d%20Health%20Organization%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> Health Organization said Canada, South <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/ap/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_flu_labs/14 866092/*http:/news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Sout h%20Korea%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore had already destroyed their samples, while Japan was doing the same. Taiwan and Germany also announced that they had destroyed all their vials. Nearly 5,000 labs in 18 countries or territories - mostly in the United States - received vials from a U.S. company that supplies kits used for internal quality control tests. News that the vials had been sent to the labs was first reported by The Associated Press. The germ, the 1957 H2N2 "Asian flu" strain, killed between 1 million and 4 million people. It has not been included in flu vaccines since 1968, and anyone born after that date has little or no immunity to it. WHO's influenza chief, Klaus Stohr, said he was "relatively confident" most of the samples outside the United States would all be destroyed by Friday. Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/ap/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_flu_labs/14 866092/*http:/news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Dise ase%20Control%20and%20Prevention%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> Control and Prevention, noted in a news conference Wednesday there had been no sign of the strain circulating anywhere. A spokesman said earlier the agency was in touch with an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 labs around the country to verify they had destroyed the pandemic virus. The agency said it didn't know why such a dangerous strain was included as part of the testing process. "There's a lot of questions right now we don't have answers to," said spokesman Tom Skinner. "I think what people need to understand is the very labs that receive these strains of influenza all have people trained to work safely and effectively with these viruses...." Countries were urged by the World Health Organization to destroy samples of the dangerous virus because of the slight but real risk it could trigger a global outbreak. "The risk is low and we've taken appropriate action," said Dr. Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the president has been briefed on the distribution of the flu virus. He said the CDC and the Department <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/ap/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_flu_labs/14 866092/*http:/news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Depa rtment%20of%20Health%20and%20Human%20Services%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> of Health and Human Services are working to address the problem and it is "a high priority for our government." "They have assessed that the risk to the public from these samples is low," McClellan said. "Nevertheless, we do not want to take any chances, and that's why the Centers for Disease Control is working with these laboratories and the world health organizations as well. And we're notifying the laboratories that these samples need to be destroyed immediately." "What we're asking is that if anybody sees any suspicious illness that it be reported immediately," he said. Outside the United States, labs in Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Bermuda, Chile, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Taiwan received the kits. In the United States, the inventory is being taken by the College of American Pathologists and for the moment, WHO said it was unsure how many samples had been destroyed there so far. Stohr said the company which sent out the virus samples - Meridian Bioscience Inc. of Newtown, Ohio - abided by current U.S. regulations. "At the moment, H2N2 is classified as a BSL2, or biosafety level 2, pathogen," he said. "They are allowed to (send it out as part of a test kit). "They sent it properly packaged, they informed the recipient, they only became aware after the whole matter was better understood that (the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention) is working on a change in the biosafety level for H2N2." A spokesman for Meridian said company officials were traveling and not immediately available for comment. However, the firm issued a quarterly earnings statement Wednesday referring to the flu issue and saying Meridian has "a long history of supplying samples" and "believes it has been and is in compliance with all applicable regulations." Viruses are classed according to the level of lab safety precautions that must be taken when handling them. Routine viruses can be handled in labs with a basic level of biosafety protection. However, very dangerous viruses, such as Ebola <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/ap/ap_on_he_me/pandemic_flu_labs/14 866092/*http:/news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?fr=news-storylinks&p=%22Ebol a%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw> , can only be handled at labs with top-level safety measures. Those labs have a biosafety level of 4. The 1957 flu virus has for years been a level 2 virus, but many countries have upgraded it to a biosafety level of 3 because so many people have no immunity to it. The kits contain blind samples that labs must correctly identify to pass the test. The influenza virus included in the kits typically is one that is currently circulating or has recently circulated. A Canadian laboratory detected the 1957 pandemic strain on March 26 in a sample that was later traced to a test kit. The WHO notified health authorities in countries that received the kits and recommended that all samples be destroyed. The College of American Pathologists asked labs to incinerate the samples immediately and confirm their actions in writing. The virus' presence in thousands of labs focused fresh attention on the safe handling of deadly germs - an issue that led to toughened U.S. rules after anthrax was sent in the mail in 2001, killing five Americans. Cox said officials strongly doubt someone deliberately planted the dangerous germ. "It wouldn't be a smart way to start a pandemic to send it to laboratories because we have people well trained in bio-containment," she said. (Possibly the stupidest response ever uttered from a security point of view- db) ___ AP medical writers Emma Ross and Marilynn Marchione contributed to this report. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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