CDC Mishaps Could Have Been Deadly, Experts Say

The agency is still investigating anthrax, smallpox and bird flu safety lapses.

ByABC News
July 15, 2014, 4:38 PM
A technician conducts tests for the H7N9 bird flu virus at the Kunming Center for Disease Control (CDC) in this April 10, 2013, file photo in Kunming, China, left, bacillus anthracis vegetative cells and spores, center, and smallpox, right.
A technician conducts tests for the H7N9 bird flu virus at the Kunming Center for Disease Control (CDC) in this April 10, 2013, file photo in Kunming, China, left, bacillus anthracis vegetative cells and spores, center, and smallpox, right.
Getty Images

July 15, 2014— -- intro: The government agency tasked with protecting the public from dangerous diseases has some explaining to do after an anthrax scare, a bird flu mix-up and an unprecedented smallpox discovery.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shuttered two of its labs as officials step back to investigate recent incidents and review overall safety procedure for handling dangerous pathogens.

Vials of Smallpox Virus Found in Unapproved Maryland Lab

Texas Biolab Loses Deadly Guanarito Virus

CDC Lapse Exposes Workers To Anthrax

None of the mistakes caused any illnesses or deaths, thankfully. But experts say the lapses could have been deadly – even if the viruses didn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Click through to learn about the worst case scenario in each breach.

quicklist: 1category: Worst Case Scenariostitle: Smallpoxurl:text:What happened:

Earlier this month, researchers were surprised to discover six vials of variola -- the virus that causes smallpox -- when cleaning out a cold storage room at NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.

Since smallpox is considered a bioterrorism threat, only two labs in the world have stockpiles: One at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters and another at the VECTOR Institute in Russia.

In other words, the virus should not have turned up in an old box in Bethesda.

No one at the facility knew the smallpox vials were there, and the building was not equipped to handle viruses that require the most stringent safety and security measures like smallpox, anthrax and Ebola.

Officials have since learned that two of the six vials still contained samples of live, infectious virus, which may date back to the 1950s.

No one was infected, but officials are investigating the matter.

What could have happened:

Since the virus was alive in two of the vials, there was a chance it could have spread, experts say.

“The smallpox vials caused no harm sitting in a box,” said ABC News' chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser. “Had the box been crushed and the virus escaped, people in the immediate vicinity could have been infected.”

And since these people wouldn’t have known that they were exposed to the virus, they might have spread it to others, said Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

“It would not have immediately been diagnosed,” said Schaffner, explaining that most doctors have never seen smallpox, which was eradicated in 1979. “So there would have been some opportunity for perhaps some limited spread around these people.”

People are no longer vaccinated for it and therefore don’t have immunity, Besser said. Once health officials realized smallpox was at fault for the illnesses, however, they would begin vaccinating people who had been in contact with those who were infected.

Another consequence of the lab blunder? Public panic.

“We would have immediately been worried about a bioterrorism event,” said Schaffner. “Given that this was in Washington, there would have been hullabaloo, eight-point headlines in The New York Times, The Washington Post.”media:24568610

quicklist: 2category: Worst Case Scenariostitle: Anthraxurl:text:What happened:

At least 84 lab workers at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta were exposed to live anthrax spores in June, according to the CDC.