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Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague
Buford C Nuzzle-Chunks writes "PhysOrg is reporting that 'The FBI and New Jersey officials have started a hushed but intensive search for three missing lab mice reportedly infected with deadly strains of plague'. The Washington Post says it's not that big a deal, but I was dismayed at the PhysOrg article's quote from Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University microbiologist, about certain federal bio-terrorism labs: 'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
Someone to build a better mousetrap!
Some settling may occur during posting.
... just as soon as we capture the last of these rage infected monkeys.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
If they're "infected wqith a deadly plague," perhaps they simply died?
"'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
Given what they serve at McDonalds, thats probably a good thing. I'd rather take my chances with the mice.
Just build a McDonald's at each of these facilities... Boom! You have your security, and the burger joint has a fresh supply of ingredients on hand.
We're talking about New Jersey. I could understand being concerned if it was somewhere else, but New Jersey? This probably improves the environment and air quality there.
It's always nice to see that the people who deal with dangerous biohazard materials are so careful with what they do. I guess you just get complacent after awhile... it happens with everything. It's unfortunate that there aren't better routines and checks in place to be absolutely certain this kind of thing doesn't happen.
;-)
Even if it's no big deal this time, who's to say what could happen in the future if mutant infected lab animals are allowed to roam free?
I store my recipes online (the way nature intended)
Three plagued mice, come on everybody sing along....... Three plagued mice.....
I heard that they ran off with the farmer's wife, who cut off their tails with carving knife.
At least now we know that if something goes wrong, FEMA knows what to do.
Yot are we gonna do tonight, Brain? Try to take over the world?
No, Pinky. We are going to try to find a pharmacy and cure this <hack> damn cough!
www.eFax.com are spammers
That's nothing. The bubonic plague is actually relatively common (as plagues go) in New Mexico... Those mice are probably on a cross country trip to join their brethren.
How many labs were flooded during Katrina? How many of those were doing research of this type? What, you can't answer that? Point is, nobody knows WHAT people will be exposed to down there. Three rats with Plague is nothing compared with what could be unleashed.
McDonalds security is no laughing matter.
Consider, for example, the international fugitive known as the "Hamburglar".
I find it hard to believe the line about the security, it seems like it's been put there to add impact to an otherwise not that important story. I work in university labs, granted not with things like the plague, but anywhere animal use takes place there is pretty good security. This is perhaps not a result of the dangers of the animals escaping but rather to stop animal-rights activists from getting in. Yes, it could be better, but the McDonalds quote is just flamebait IMHO.
For these mice might have fled to Russia to join the civilization of rats reported to exist somewhere in the Urals. Now, just imagine what will happen if these rats start using these mice as suicide terrorists...
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
It's not as dangerous as you might think - yersinia pestis has not been eradicated by any means. There are still problems with it in rodent populations - for instance, Boulder County, CO has had a problem with it just this summer in the groundhog population.
The route of transmission to humans is
rodent > flea > human
(if it turns into pneumonia in a human it can be passed human to human, otherwise not).
Since fleas aren't nearly the problem they were in the middle ages, and we don't have travelers trekking on foot (and picking up fleas) through areas that have a high incidence of yersinia pestis in the rodent population, it just doesn't spread as quickly as it used to. There still end up being a few cases of bubonic plague every year in the US, but it doesn't have the opportunity to spread the way it used to.
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
I don't get those PETA/ALF types....
"Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
I think that goes for OS's too
One of my neighbors got the plague. He's like one of the three people on the planet that somehow managed to catch the bubonic plague that year. What shitty luck.
Evidently the good news for him is that he's now immune.
We worked with this about 20 years ago - Pasteurella sp., though this species is similar. It needs incubation at body temperature, outside of that it doesn't do well - IIRC cultures were dead in less than a day out of their ranges, but we autoclaved everything jsut for good measure. Plus we signed a big piece of paper from NIH saying we'd take full responsibility for it all. Some good news is that not all strains are human pathogens. More good news is it doesn't form spores, so dead bacteria is dead bacteria. Plus it responds well to antibiotics. What we call "plague" bacteria are very common in livestock - ag people call it "shipping fever" because it's usually not a problem until you stuff lots of animals in a stock trailer or car and let them breath, scratch and bite each other for a week, and you can have high mortality on arrival. The wild strains of some of these are nearly ubiquitous in rabbits, and more common than you'd think in household and farm animals.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
[thud] [clang]
CART MASTER:
Bring out your dead! [clang]
Bring out your dead! [clang]
Bring out your dead! [clang]
Bring out your dead! [clang]
CUSTOMER:
Here's one.
CART MASTER:
Ninepence.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm not dead!
CART MASTER:
What?
CUSTOMER:
Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm not dead!
CART MASTER:
'Ere. He says he's not dead!
CUSTOMER:
Yes, he is.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm not!
CART MASTER:
He isn't?
CUSTOMER:
Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm getting better!
CUSTOMER:
No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
CART MASTER:
Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
DEAD PERSON:
I don't want to go on the cart!
CUSTOMER:
Oh, don't be such a baby.
CART MASTER:
I can't take him.
DEAD PERSON:
I feel fine!
CUSTOMER:
Well, do us a favour.
CART MASTER:
I can't.
CUSTOMER:
Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
CART MASTER:
No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
CUSTOMER:
Well, when's your next round?
CART MASTER:
Thursday.
DEAD PERSON:
I think I'll go for a walk.
CUSTOMER:
You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do?
DEAD PERSON: [singing]
I feel happy. I feel happy.
[whop]
CUSTOMER:
Ah, thanks very much.
CART MASTER:
Not at all. See you on Thursday.
CUSTOMER:
Right. All right.
[howl]
[clop clop clop]
Who's that, then?
CART MASTER:
I dunno. Must be a king.
CUSTOMER:
Why?
CART MASTER:
He hasn't got shit all over him.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
That quote is right on. I work in a BSL 2 lab (fooborne pathogens, like Salmonella, Listeria, E.coliO157:H7, and so forth) for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and I can certainly say that our "security" is laughable at best. We have a security guard posted at the front door to the lab from 9 AM to about 4 PM. Most people arrive at or before 8 AM.
And a quick story about other outstanding security...adjacent to the building where I work is an office of the Department of Homeland Security. About 3 months ago, myself and one of my coworkers, who is about 25 (I'll be 23 in a few days), decided to go up and poke around. We're young lab workers, so we were just in street clothes; in particular, I was wearing a Slayer T-shirt and jean shorts (my professional-looking lab attire). Neither of us had our badges out, and we poked around Homeland Security for a solid 15 mintues. Nobody stopped us, asked to see ID, nor even asked if we worked there.
Yeah, most labs could probably stand to beef up their security.
"It never got weird enough for me." - HST (RIP)
This is a complete NON-Story that has its roots in the Patriot Act.
First. As glarvat mentioned, the plaque is everywhere. In NM, my home state, rabbits, prarie dogs, gophers, you name it carry the plaque. So if Osama wants to get ahold of some Yersinia pestis he need look no further than the bushes outside his mud-brick hut in Northwestern Pakistan.
Second. The real reason this is an issue is because of the professor from Texas who had apparently misplaced some samples of the Ames strain of Anthrax, which is commonplace in many labs across the country. Now he's in prison. There are details of the case all over the web, but just like everyone else in every profession, as scientists, we make mistakes, don't take perfect notes, misplace things, lose things, etc.
Given that these mice--and a vial of Ames Anthrax--are not a threat and are widely available using simple techniques all over the globe, the normal response would be to note the discrepancy, tell the boss and continue with your work. Work that--you know--is designed to combat these same bugs and actually do something good for Society.
So in the past, this has surely happend at many labs and there were no problems and there really isn't an threat to the public. Now, the FBI swoops in, asks questions, then tries to catch the professor making a misstatement. Even though the original offense, not taking good enough notes about what happened to the mice, is not a crime, the professor will find himself fired, or in jail, or both.
Mice don't have RFID tags and the need to be moved into new cages 2 or 3 times a week. Although not common, they do get misplaced during cage transfers and or experimental procedures. Unfortunately, this professor will likely lose his job because of a simple mistake.
Welcome to 1984.