Bubonic plague vials missing at lab

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Bubonic plague vials missing at lab

Search is on at Texas Tech University


MSNBC NEWS SERVICES

LUBBOCK, Texas, Jan. 15 — About 30 vials that contain samples of bubonic plague were reported missing from a lab at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.

THE OFFICIAL had few details but said the FBI was trying to determine what had happened to the vials at the Texas school, about 330 miles west of Dallas.
“Apparently there are about 30 missing,” he said.
But the official emphasized that the plague believed to be in the vials could not be used as a weapon of mass destruction. The vials could possibly kill one person but not a large group of people.
A report was made late Tuesday to the Tech police, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported in its online edition. City officials were not sure if the vials were stolen or merely misplaced, KCBD-TV reported.
In Washington, FBI officials confirmed that they were contacted Tuesday night about the missing vials and dispatched agents to Lubbock to assist local authorities.
White House officials have been briefed on the plague reports, said spokesman Ari Fleischer. He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also was investigating. No other specifics about the probe were immediately available.

DISEASE TREATED WITH ANTIBIOTICS
Bubonic plague is an infectious disease of animals and humans caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis. People usually get it from being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an infected animal.
The disease can be easily treated with antibiotics.
NBC’s chief medical correspondent, Robert Bazell, told MSNBC the disease is “a common infection” that causes several cases each year. If untreated, the disease can spread.
“It has a history of being used as a biowarfare agent,” said Bazell. But he cautioned, “We should be very careful to avoid jumping to conclusions.”
Former FBI Special Agent Christopher Whitcomb told MSNBC that authorities “do not have a specific connection to some criminal intent.”
They were searching for the vials and trying to rule out any possibility of terrorist activity, he said.

MSNBC’s Molly Masland, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.