A US House of Representatives committee that will host a hearing on Jul 16 to question federal officials on recent incidents involving anthrax bacteria and other pathogens at US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) labs today unveiled some findings from its requests for documents and testimony about the agency's biosafety issues.
In addition to recent problems with anthrax and smallpox, high-path avian flu has now entered the mix.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) director, Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, has been asked by three top Republicans on the US House Energy Committee for several types of information on the recent breach of safety protocols resulting in possible exposure of lab personnel to Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, according to Reuters today.
The CDC says some lab workers can discontinue antibiotic treatment and vaccination.
Suriname health officials yesterday said more chikungunya infections have been detected, suggesting the possibility of local transmission, Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) reported today.
Early results of environmental tests at CDC labs are negative.
Nine more workers may have been exposed to Bacillus anthracis.
The CDC is monitoring and providing antibiotics to about 75 staffers over Bacillus anthracis concerns.
West Africa's Ebola virus outbreak continues to swell, with 20 new cases and 3 additional deaths, according to an update yesterday from the World Health Organization (WHO), based on new reports the agency received on Jun 2 and 3.
Guinea's health ministry has reported six more cases in the country's Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, lifting the total to 224, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an update yesterday.
So far, of 202 patients tested, 121 have been lab confirmed, the agency said. Two more deaths have been reported, pushing that number to 143, an increase of 2 since the WHO's previous update on Apr 25.
