A Whoops Of Global Proportions

Meridian Bioscience Inc. of Cincinnati accidentally shipped samples of a deadly flu virus to over 3,700 laboratories in 18 different countries. Now the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control around the world are trying to find out where they went and ensure the samples are destroyed. Concerns are that the virus could escape, or be carried out of a lab by an incidentally infected lab worker, unleashing a pandemic.

The virus that was shipped was H2N2 which was a virulent flu (Asian Flu) that killed an estimated 1 to 4 million people in 1957 and 1958, and hasn't been seen since 1968. Anyone born after 1968 has no antibodies against the virus at all.

One might wonder how a virus that should be under heavy security and stored separately from other viruses ended up being shipped around the world.

Articles
4/13/05 Stein & Vedantam, Wa. Post, Deadly Flu Strain Shipped Worldwide

4/13/05 BBC, Labs race to destroy deadly virus