Dead mice infected with the plague missing

02/07/2009

The frozen remains of two mice injected with the organism that causes plague have not been accounted for seven weeks after being discovered missing at a University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey facility, the university said Friday. UMDNJ's Public Health Research Institute issued a four-paragraph statement late Friday saying it believes the red hazardous waste bag containing the dead mice was sterilized and incinerated along with another bag.

"Although the mice in the missing bag were used in vaccine experiments involving the bacteria Yersinia pestis, the organism that causes plague, UMDNJ has no reason to believe that this situation poses a risk to the safety or health of UMDNJ staff or the community at large," the university said in a prepared statement.

The FBI and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the Dec. 19 incident. University spokesman Jerry Carey said he did not know whether the investigation had been completed or why UMDNJ waited seven weeks to disclose the missing mice.

After- hours messages left with the FBI office in Newark and the CDC media relations office were not immediately returned. Dr. David Perlin, director of the research institute, said the experiment was part of a National Institutes of Health bioterrorism program to test a vaccine for plague.

The infectious disease often caused by bites from rodent fleas is of interest to researchers because of its potential for use by bioterrorists. Perlin said when mice die during an experiment, they are double bagged, labeled then sprayed with a disinfectant before being placed in a freezer for storage, where they are kept for the duration of the research. Afterward, the bagged remains are sterilized then shipped offsite for incineration. "Any time you are putting something wet in the freezer, there's a chance bags can stick together, and frequently they do," he said of the disinfectant-sprayed bags.

The rodents had been infected with the plague, Perlin said, but he said they posed no threat to research staff or the public in part because they were dead. They were also housed in a secure facility that follows protocols for a biohazard site, he said. Millions of people died from plague in the Middle Ages, when homes and work places were inhabited by flea-infested rats. Antibiotics are effective against plague, but the disease can be fatal if an infected person is not treated quickly, the CDC Web site says.

There is currently no vaccine. Perlin said the institute has begun taking inventory of all logged hazardous waste bags before sterilization following the incident.)
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Situation Update No. 1
On 02/8/2009

The FBI today ruled out terrorism in connection with the disappearance from a New Jersey lab of frozen remains of two mice injected with the organism that causes plague. The mice, who were being used as part of a bioterrorism study, were discovered missing seven weeks ago from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.

Officials didn't make the disappearance public until yesterday. For some, it called to mind the Middle Ages, when flea-infested rats spread a plague that killed millions. Investigations have been done by the FBI, which said there is no risk to public health, and he U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which has yet to comment on the incident.

In a statement, the university's Public Health Research Institute said late yesterday that the red hazardous waste bag containing the dead mice likely was sterilized and incinerated along with another bag. "Although the mice in the missing bag were used in vaccine experiments involving the bacteria Yersinia pestis, the organism that causes plague, UMDNJ has no reason to believe that this situation poses a risk to the safety or health of UMDNJ staff or the community at large," the statement said.

The CDC Web site says antiobiotics are effective against the disease but only if taken immediately after infection. Procedure requires the remains be double-bagged and labeleld, sprayed with a disinfectant, and tehen stored in a freezer before being sterilized and incinerated.

Questions remain, of course, including why it took seven weeks for the public to be notified. Ironically, researchers who used the mice have been figuring out a way to deal with the organism in case it falls into the hands of terrorists.