Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague
Posted on: Thursday, 15 September 2005, 18:00 CDT
The FBI and New Jersey officials have started a hushed but intensive search for three missing lab mice reportedly infected with deadly strains of plague.
The mice were discovered missing from separate cages at a bioterrorism research facility in Newark more than two weeks ago, but the incident was only confirmed Wednesday by the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger.
The research lab, located at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, is operated by the Public Health Research Institute, a center for infectious disease research.
The mice reportedly were infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis that causes bubonic and other forms of plague.
Scientists, however, said with modern antibiotics, plague can be treated if quickly diagnosed and is not the scourge that wiped out a third of Europe during the 14th century.
Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University microbiologist and a critic of the government's rapid expansion of bio-terrorism labs, said federal guidelines call for only minimal security at such laboratories -- a lock on the lab door and a lock on the sample container and cage.
You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities, Ebright told the newspaper.
Source: United Press International
Related Articles
- Researchers Grow Replacement Teeth In Lab Mice
- Level Delays Aging Of Multiple Tissues In Lab Mice
- Study: Treat lab mice as individuals
- Researchers Look to Mice for Flu Answers
- Mice Put Cancer on Ice?: Study of Ordinary Lab Mice Injected With White Blood Cells From Cancer-Resistant One Held the Disease at Bay
- Buffet of Specialized Lab Mice Available
- Scientists Flood Disease Research With Mutant Mice
- Chemical Triggers Breast Cancer in Lab Mice
- Lab Mice Rescued From Type 1 Diabetes
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds