[stupidity rules - although the BBC calls it a "mistake" - and yes
that is a gramattical error on the BBC website in the crucial
paragraph marked with ***** ... there's also a reference to a "CAP"
but no definition of this ... this article has been heavily edited -
Stu]
There are fears the samples could get into the wrong hands
The US government has told more than 3,700 laboratories in 18
countries to destroy potentially lethal influenza samples sent out in
testing kits.
The samples are of "Asian flu", which killed between one and four
million people in 1957 but disappeared by 1968.
If the virus is not handled properly, "it can easily cause an
influenza epidemic", Klaus Stohr of the World Health Organization
(WHO) warned.
A full list of countries to which the virus was sent is not yet
available.
It includes countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South
America.
Hong Kong radio announced on Wednesday that the virus had been
destroyed there.
Because the virus has not been in circulation since 1968, people born
after that do not have antibodies against it - and current vaccines
do not guard against it.
"If this virus were to infect one person, it would spread very
rapidly," Dr Stohr, the WHO's influenza expert, told the BBC.
Terrorism worries
The College of American Pathologists sent out kits containing between
October 2004 and February of this year. *****
On 8 April, the US government asked the body to write to the
laboratories affected - of which 61 are outside the US and Canada -
telling them to destroy the samples.
"The risk is considered to be low... but as long as this is out, it
is possible laboratory technicians can become infected" -- Klaus
Stohr, WHO
Given the concerns that the virus could be used in bio-terrorism,
letters were sent to the laboratories before the mistake was made
public.
Dr Stohr said the CAP had not violated US regulations, which are now
being revised.
The virus - technically known as H2N2 - was classified as Biological
Safety Level 2, meaning that it was not considered particularly
dangerous.
But the US government agency responsible for classifying viruses, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says it was in the
process of deciding whether to change the strain's classification
when it found out that it had been widely circulated.
The WHO says there is no guarantee that every sample of the virus can
be traced and destroyed because some of the laboratories may have
sent derivatives of the sample elsewhere.
'Low risk'
But there have been no reports of anyone becoming ill from handling
the virus, which the WHO called reassuring.
"The risk is considered to be low... but as long as this is out it is
possible laboratory technicians can become infected," Dr Stohr said.
Laboratories use the kits to show they can correctly identify
different strains of a virus.
They normally include strains in current or recent circulation.
It is hoped the laboratories will have destroyed the vials by the end
of the week.
The UK is not among the countries to which the strain was sent.
---
* Origin: [adminz] tech, security, support (192:168/0.2)
generated by msg2page 0.06 on Jul 21, 2006 at 19:03:52
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