The latest mishandling mishap to be reported by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has resulted in two lab closures for safety reasons. The safety breach involved a dangerous strain of avian flu, and was discovered during investigations of the recent exposure to the live anthrax virus in June of this year at the CDC’s Atlanta campus.

According to the CDC, the avian flu incident occurred approximately six weeks ago in May. A sample of the non-pathogenic virus was found to be accidentally cross-contaminated with a H5N1, a potentially lethal strain of the flu, and was in the process of being shipped to a US Department of Agriculture lab. While no one was affected by the mistake, the consequences of such carelessness could be extremely large-scale to communities.

The recurrence of such safety breaches has prompted heavy scrutiny of CDC labs from Congress and has brought on grave insecurities about the organization’s ability to conduct potentially dangerous research. The CDC has launched an investigation into safety protocols and the handling of all deadly pathogens to date, revealing that deadly pathogens have, in fact, been mishandled for approximately a decade.

“These events revealed totally unacceptable behavior,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden to press on Friday. “They should never have happened. I’m upset, I’m angry, I’ve lost sleep over this, and I’m working on it until the issue is resolved.” He further added that the staff involved had knowingly disregarded laboratory protocol and would be disciplined accordingly.  

Frieden also cited the need for safety culture throughout the nation’s laboratories, bringing attention to the recent discovery of six vials of smallpox in a vacant room at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. Investigations found that two of the vials contained live virus despite being dated back to 1954. 

In an attempt to re-evaluate safety procedures, the CDC has suspended any transfers of biological materials including infectious agents and inactivated specimens from high-security labs. In addition to the closing of the anthrax laboratory, the influenza laboratory will also be closed until the implementation of satisfactory safety procedures.