Army: 3 vials of virus samples missing from Maryland facility

[whopis01]

Source: CNN

Missing vials of a potentially dangerous virus have prompted an Army investigation into the disappearance from a lab in Maryland.

The vials contained samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, a virus that sickens horses and can be spread to humans by mosquitoes. In 97 percent of cases, humans with the virus suffer flu-like symptoms, but it can be deadly in about 1 out of 100 cases, according to Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. There is an effective vaccine for the disease and there hasn't been an outbreak in the United States since 1971.

The vials had been at the research institute's facility at Fort Detrick, home of the Army's top biological research facility, for more than a decade. The three missing vials were among thousands of vials that were under the control of a senior scientist who retired in 2004. When another Fort Detrick scientist recently inventoried the retired scientist's biological samples, he discovered that the three vials of the virus were missing. The original scientist's records about his vials dated back to the days of paper-and-pen inventories.

This investigation comes two months after all research at the research institute facility at Fort Detrick was halted for a complete computer-based inventory of all disease samples at the fort. That inventory is expected to be complete before summer and may help solve the mystery of the three missing vials, officials said.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/22/missing.virus.sample/index.html

[ShortnFiery]

1. Fear! Fear! Fear! ... this should be handled without scaring the populace. nt.

[ret5hd]

2. How many horses died in Fla. this week?

just sayin'.

[Olney Blue]

3. surprised this made it to the media... very strange

[EFerrari]

6. Payback? None of the scientists there back up the FBI Bruce Ivins fantasy.n/t

They don't even know if three vials are missing or not but, bad PR for Ft. Detrick.

[CoffeeCat]

7. I agree....very odd.

We don't know unless they want us to know.

So, why do we know?

[global1]

4. Coincidence - Didn't 21 Venezuelan Horse's Just Die The Other Day?......

These two incidents are unrelated - but this is certainly strange.

[TheWraith]

8. 21 polo horses in New Zealand.

It turns out they were given tainted vitamin shots.

[Muttocracy]

10. I thought it was VZ horses in Florida:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/sports/othersports/21polo.html

[Hekate]

15. It was -- so that makes two incidents. Very grim indeed. nt

[whopis01]

24. I don't think there were two incidents. I can't find anything regarding horses dying in NZ... n/t

[TheWraith]

27. Could be I was wrong, thought it was New Zealand. nt

[CoffeeCat]

5. Let me guess...

...we all should get vaccinated now and one of the big Pharma companies--that paid our politicians handsome
campaign contributions---will be handling the mass vaccination.

Yeah, I'm cynical.

[Muttocracy]

11. we should find out who got vaccinated recently...

didn't Cheney take Cipro BEFORE the anthrax mailings?

[bananas]

12. I think he did. nt

[IndianaGreen]

9. USAMRIID lab at Fort Detrick has had a troubled history

1991-1992: Possible Link between Racist Harassment at USAMRIID and Later Anthrax Attacks

In 1991, Ayaad Assaad is a scientist working at USAMRIID, the US Army’s top bioweapons laboratory. He is a Christian and a long-time US citizen, but he was born in Egypt and his Middle Eastern background and appearance apparently bothers some other scientists at USAMRIID. Around Easter 1991, not long after the Persian Gulf War had ended, Assaad discovers an eight-page poem in his mailbox. The poem mocks Assaad, sometimes in crude and lewd terms. It makes reference to a rubber camel made by some other scientists in the lab that has numerous sexually explicit appendages.

"Camel Club" - The group behind the camel and the poem refer to themselves as the “Camel Club.” There are at least six members of this group. Three are known by name—Philip Zack, Marian Rippy, and Charles Brown—but the names of the others have never been made public.

Complaint - Assaad’s supervisor at USAMRIID at the time is Col. David Franz. Assaad will later claim he went to Franz about the poem and the camel, but Franz “kicked me out of his office and slammed the door in my face, because he didn’t want to talk about it.” Two other Arab-Americans, Kulthoum Mereish and Richard Crosland, also work under Franz and also face harassment from the Camel Club. They will join Assaad in later suing USAMRIID and claiming that Franz was a racist who failed to take any action against the Camel Club, and then fired all three of them when he got the chance during layoffs in 1997 (see May 9, 1997). By the time of the anthrax attacks in 2001, Franz will be a private consultant on countermeasures to biological and chemical attacks. (Hartford Courant, 12/9/2001; Hartford Courant, 1/20/2002) Zack leaves USAMRIID in December 1991 after facing allegations of unprofessional behavior. Rippy leaves in February 1992.

Investigation - After being ignored by Franz, Assaad files a formal complaint with the Army. Col. Ronald Williams, commander of USAMRIID at the time, heads the investigation. In August 1992, he concludes that Zack and Rippy had been at the center of the Camel Club and also were having an affair with each other even though both were married. Williams formally concludes to Assaad, “On behalf of the United States of America, the Army, and this Institute, I wish to genuinely and humbly apologize for this behavior.” (Salon, 1/26/2002) However, most of the other members of the Camel Club will still be working at USAMRIID when Assaad is laid off in 1997 (see May 9, 1997).
Alleged Patsy - An anonymous letter sent just before the real anthrax attacks are made public in 2001 will say that Assaad is ready to launch a biological attack on the US (see September 26, 2001 and October 3, 2001). Some will later suspect that this letter was an attempt to use Assaad as a scapegoat for the attacks, and his targeting may have been related to the Camel Club dispute. (Hartford Courant, 1/20/2002)

http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1991camelclub

[Wizard777]

13. Sure the anthrax attacker commited suicide. I'd keep an eye on the mail.

[Festivito]

14. This story seems meant to hide the torture breakthroughs.

"strong possibility" the vials were in that freezer and destroyed...

A freezer that failed, had to be emptied by safe destruction, but no inventory existed and the three samples may have been in it and destroyed and they still have other records to check..

They get to start a bunch of conspiracy theories about connections of the Venezuelan horses and the anthrax murders, then to discredit the theorists kept too busy to track the torture scandal coming from the release of the documents that released the sworn silence of many now able to tell their stories and reveal the many who's like Rice, Rumsfeld, et. al.

Sure, look at this. But, not to the exclusion of the other stuff coming down.

[EFerrari]

29. They've been auditing Ft. Detrick for months. n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

16. Must've been within driving distance of Cheney's residence

At least it wouldn't surprise me if that were the case.

[Solly Mack]

17. K&R

I like rainbows

[carlyhippy]

18. could this be tied to all the dead ponies this past weekend?

Sounds suspicious

[City Lights]

19. WTF?

The three missing vials were among thousands of vials that were under the control of a senior scientist who retired in 2004. When another Fort Detrick scientist recently inventoried the retired scientist's biological samples, he discovered that the three vials of the virus were missing.

One scientist retired in 2004 and they're just getting around to taking inventory now, in 2009? :wtf:

[cobalt1999]

20. Reminds of this Far Side cartoon.

There goes the three vials.

[pleah]

21. K&R

[Hugabear]

22. We have more to fear from right-wing extremists in our own military than any foreign threat

Prior to 9/11, the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil was carried about by an ex-military right-wing extremist. Now these extremists have had two wars to help sharpen their skills.

[whopis01]

25. absolutely. n/t

[xchrom]

23. recommend

[Joanne98]

26. Venezuela and horses again. Weird

[surrealAmerican]

28. So, these vials might have been missing for 20 years.

It sounds like their inventory procedures are just not up to the task.

[undergroundpanther]

30. Ft.Detrich

The pentagon is too tolerant of evil people to have control over any deadly viruses.There are too many pro-torture types and psychopaths in the military any one of them could swipe a virus just to get off on the idea of holding such a deadly thing in thier possesion and with relish that only a evil heart could enjoy infect others with it.
If torture is OK than slipping viruses to kill people isn't far removed from the psychopathy of the top,bush admin.The bushes may be out but not all the evil little psychopaths they may have hired are not gone..

[JerseygirlCT]

31. Better waterboard Cheney to see what he knows. nt