In an apparent mistake today, a technician at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab in Atlanta may have been exposed unknowingly to the Ebola virus. The technician will now have to be monitored for the required 21 days to determine whether or not an infection has taken place.

The Ebola exposure was due to Ebola samples that were transferred to the wrong lab. The samples of Ebola were supposed to be dead and inactive. Instead, it is now believed that they may have contained live virus.

The CDC lab had transferred the virus, which was possibly live, from a top security level lab to a lower level lab. The higher level lab knew how to work with the virus, and they wear the complete moon suits for protection. The lower level lab does not take the same precautions, and their protection is usually just gloves and gowns.

Although the virus was in a sealed plate, the CDC lab says that it cannot rule out the possibility of the technician being exposed to the virus. No one outside of the lab suffered any exposure, and Barbara Reynolds, who is the spokeswoman for the CDC, said that the public is not at risk in this case.

Once discovered, the CDC lab was decontaminated and the Ebola sample had been destroyed. A second decontamination also took place at the lower level lab because it was after the first decontamination that the mistake was discovered. All further transfers from the higher level lab were stopped immediately after being discovered, which was about an hour later.

The same thing had happened at the lab earlier this year. In those cases it was anthrax and bird flu viruses that had also been transferred to a lower security level lab at CDC. These mistakes brought the handling procedures of the CDC lab into question, and many wondered just how safe the lab really was.

The technician that may have been exposed is not being put into quarantine. The risk of getting Ebola is thought to be low. As many as a dozen other technicians also entered the lab and may have suffered exposure, but the risk for them is also believed to be low, and no one is being quarantined, but they will be watched. So far, the primary technician that was exposed has not had any symptoms.

This mistake has been reported to Sylvia Burwell, who is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Although the CDC was supposed to review their procedures and correct their policies, they are once again reviewing what happened to discover what went wrong. The Director of the CDC, Tom Frieden, indicates that a full review will be made and all “necessary measures” will be taken to avoid a repeat.

Dr. Tom Frieden also said that thousands of CDC workers had worked hard to make the recommended steps a regular practice to ensure greater safety. The changes came after a panel of experts, independent of CDC, had met and made its recommendations. The CDC has more than 150 labs.

The CDC lab in Atlanta regularly handles some of the most deadly viruses on earth. Scientists work with these viruses in what are supposed to be the most ultra-secure labs possible in both civilian and military labs. Dr. Frieden says that “the safety of our employees in our highest priority,” and promises to make a full report after the investigation is completed.