22 US troops in South Korea possibly exposed to anthrax

Asia-Pacific, News, US May 28, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

At least 22 members of American forces in South Korea may have been exposed to live anthrax spores, which the Pentagon says it accidentally shipped off to a military base there, a report says.

“Twenty-two personnel may have been exposed during the training event and all personnel were provided appropriate medical precautionary measures to include examinations, antibiotics and in some instances, vaccinations,” a statement from Osan Air Base said. “None of the personnel have shown any signs of possible exposure.”

The announcement was made by United States Forces Korea (USFK), which is a sub-unified command of United States Pacific Command (USPACOM), on Thursday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

USFK said in a statement that the bio-weapon sample was destroyed after it was discovered that the deadly bacteria may not be an “inert training sample as expected.”

“Osan Air Base took prudent cautionary measures May 27, 2015, to investigate a potential exposure to a suspected sample of Anthrax,” it said.

The samples had been exposed to radiation in March last year at a military lab in Utah and were supposed to be “dead”. But on Friday, a private firm in Maryland notified authorities that its sample was still active, setting off an urgent review of all material sent out to other labs, defence officials said.

More than a dozen other government and commercial labs in nine states — as well as a US military base in South Korea — received samples over the past year from the original batch.

Four people at three different companies that had “worked with the live anthrax” were receiving post-exposure prophylaxis treatment as a precaution, officials said.

But the Pentagon and health officials moved quickly to dispel concerns for public health. “There is no known risk to the general public, and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection in potentially exposed lab workers,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said in a statement.

Warren said the military was working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to retrieve the samples.

According to the Pentagon, samples came from a military lab at Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) Army facility in Utah.

The live anthrax spores were shipped from Utah to labs in Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, California and Virginia.