WASHINGTON -- The same federal scientist who found forgotten vials of smallpox at a federal lab earlier this month also uncovered over 300 additional vials, many bearing the names of highly contagious viruses and bacteria.
Food and Drug Administration officials said Wednesday the undocumented collection contained 327 carefully packaged vials, listing various pathogens, including dengue, influenza and rickettsia. Last week the government only announced that it had recovered six glass vials of smallpox dating from the 1950s.
"The fact that these materials were not discovered until now is unacceptable," said Karen Midthun, of FDA's centre for biologics. "However, upon finding these materials our staff did the right thing -- they immediately notified the appropriate authorities who secured the materials and determined there was no exposure."
FDA scientists said they have not yet confirmed whether the newly disclosed vials actually contained the pathogens listed on their labels. The agency is conducting a nationwide search of all cold storage units for any other missing samples.
Investigators destroyed 32 vials containing tissue samples and a non-contagious virus related to smallpox. Several unlabeled vials were sent to CDC for testing and the remaining 279 samples were shipped to the Department of Homeland Security for safekeeping. FDA officials said there is no evidence anyone was exposed to any of the agents, which were packed in heat-sealed glass vials with no signs of leakage.
The freeze-dried smallpox samples were found in a building at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, that has been used by the Food and Drug Administration since 1972.
The find was disturbing because for decades after smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, world health authorities said the only known samples left were safely stored in super-secure laboratories in Atlanta and in Russia.
It was the second recent incident in which a U.S. government health agency appeared to have mishandled a highly dangerous germ. Last month, scores of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were feared exposed to anthrax because of a laboratory safety lapse. The CDC began giving them antibiotics as a precaution.
In separate congressional testimony Wednesday, CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden acknowledged that systemic safety problems have for years plagued federal public health laboratories that handle dangerous germs such as anthrax and bird flu. Frieden added that his agency had long thought of the lapses as unrelated accidents.
