Fifth monkey has signs of deadly bacteria in lab mishap

www.usatoday.com...

Tests indicate a fifth monkey had been exposed to deadly bacteria that was somehow released from a high-security lab at the Tulane National Primate Research Center near New Orleans, according to an e-mail circulated among federal and state investigators. The monkey, like the others before it, was not part of an experiment. How the dangerous pathogen got out of its lab remains a mystery.

I guess it was the title that got my attention, 5th monkey, 12th monkey you get the drift. The way this reported in an immediately deflecting tone down playing the obviously serious nature of this report made me kind of sit up and take notice. I guess we will wait for more tests.

its just new orleans. no big loss.

a reply to: machineintelligence
Darn just saw your tile and came on just to make a 12 monkeys reference and you already had one in your OP.

a reply to: machineintelligence

So this bacteria got out of a secure lab . I guess fences should be no problem . Oh goody .

a reply to: machineintelligence

Wow! If you watch the video that accompanies the story, there is a comment which seems extremely important, yet I don't see it mentioned in the article text anywhere. At 1:30 in the video, the lady says one of the investigators has tested positive for the bacteria in her own blood samples. One would think that the investigators would be utilizing the best available protocols and equipment to prevent becoming infected themselves, as they would be participating after it came to light that there were serious problems.

Sobering and, once again, one has to wonder what the logic and intelligence is that places these disease research labs within the confines of the continental United States in the first place. Seems like somewhere with natural environmental barriers, like Antarctica, would be a far better choice for lab location.

a reply to: machineintelligence

from the article:

which was supposed to be securely contained inside a laboratory located in another building on the sprawling campus......The CDC has said there is no evidence of a public health threat..........Louisiana state officials have expressed concerns that the bacteria, which can live and grow in soil and water, has contaminated the environment outside the facility. Two of the initially infected animals became ill in November while living in large outdoor cages in a massive breeding colony on the campus that houses 4,000 animals. Although a limited number of soil and water tests have not detected the bacteria outdoors,

Well that's just dandy isn't it (facepalm) another securely contained disease escapes and nobody knows why (again)

a reply to: agenda51
Except for the fact that the rest of the United States lower 48 states are just upstream from this point in the nation's water shed. No biggy.

a reply to: machineintelligence

would you rather be downstream? I am a glass half full kind of person.

no telling how bad this can get. we all have lots of guns and bullets in case of Zombie monkey Bacteria attacks though.

a reply to: machineintelligence

Very informative and worrying post. Whilst checking out your link to the sick monkey article I found the following info regarding the H1N1 :-

"She said a lab accident is considered by many scientists to be the most likely source of the re-emergence in 1977 of an H1N1 flu strain that had disappeared in 1957 because the genetic makeup of the strain hadn't changed as it should have over those decades. A 2009 article in the New England Journal of Medicine noted the 1977 strain was so similar to the one that disappeared that it suggests it had been "preserved" and that the re-emergence was "probably an accidental release from a laboratory source."

I had no idea lab safety was as potentially lax as this.

Link to H1N1 article

a reply to: burdman30ott6

i agree with you there. how about at least putting the entire operation underground. NOOOOOO lets put it in New Orleans. Surely nothing bad weather wise will happen there. Maybe next time they can build one of these research institutes next to a day care facility or playschool.

Then again.....maybe they wanted to use New Orleans because there is a heavy populace and unsanitary conditions are common. some sort of testing area or distribution area to bring on a mass event.

Kind of reminds me of the hard core version of AIDS story I read a few weaks ago coming out of Cuba.

again though its New Orleans. I dont think people are too worried about bacteria there. I have often wondered why things like bleach, soap, and trash bags were banned from the area. kind of sad because it has a beautiful and foreign landscape although pretty harsh.

a reply to: korkythecat

Even more troubling was the 2009 H1N1 outbreak in Mexico. Allegedly that strain was found to be a genetic mutagen consisting of 4 different H1N1 strains, combined into a single virus. Most alternative websites have classified the nature of that outbreak as being only possible if the virus came from a lab because virus strains simply don't combine like that spontaneously in nature.

When these labs start tinkering with forced mutations and combinations of strains, it goes well beyond their stated goals of developing vaccines and counter measures for bioterror and, instead, the lab itself starts sown the road to being the source of pandemics and potentially new, deadlier strains.

a reply to: korkythecat

whats always been amazing to me is that we create this stuff. how does that brainstorming session go? Hey guys... lets make a new strain of disease that can wipe out the human race for the hell of it! people always wanting to start crap.

I always crack up at the inventor of the atomic bomb.....he just felt so bad after his creation. Yeah...sure you do.

Sorry guys...feel like i am channeling Jeff Goldblume from Jurassic Park now.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: korkythecat

Even more troubling was the 2009 H1N1 outbreak in Mexico. Allegedly that strain was found to be a genetic mutagen consisting of 4 different H1N1 strains, combined into a single virus. Most alternative websites have classified the nature of that outbreak as being only possible if the virus came from a lab because virus strains simply don't combine like that spontaneously in nature.

When these labs start tinkering with forced mutations and combinations of strains, it goes well beyond their stated goals of developing vaccines and counter measures for bioterror and, instead, the lab itself starts sown the road to being the source of pandemics and potentially new, deadlier strains.

only reasonable explanation is that its all dictated by an alien presence of some sort. that or everyone involved is just coo coo for coa coa puffs. scientists who are so full of themselves they become blind to there own actions. who even takes a job like that?

Wait till the seventh.... i've seen that one....not good.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

I agree. It seems like the most likely source for a pandemic disease outbreak is not some foreign terrorist but a government lab run amok from this information. It seems clear there is no proper oversight with regard to public health impact from these poorly managed and secure bio labs.

sucks to be a chimp in New Orleans right now.

I will say it again...all biolabs need to be deep underground. andromeda strain type stuff. we dont need a satan bug running amok because someone was inspired by 28 days later to release a diseased monkey. we should not even be messing with this stuff in the first place for the most part IMO. its a bunch of bioweapon crap.

Just wondering how many of these accidents happen that we don't hear about.

Also, wasn't New Orleans the city where they said no thanks to the meeting of the virology conference last year during the ebola outbreaks?

When it gets to 11] monkeys, it may be time to run.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

They have said that they don't know for sure how the investigator got infected. There is apparently a real chance they got contaminated overseas before coming back to investigate this incident. Still it doesn't look that the investigator gets sick with the same stuff.

To me, the most damning thing is that all the sick monkeys got exposed in the veterinary lab - a place this bacteria was NEVER supposed to be. They have stated that once monkeys go into that secure lab unit for testing, they are never supposed to come out alive due to the nature of the organism in the lab. So how did the bug get into the veterinary unit outside the lab?

originally posted by: ~Lucidity
Just wondering how many of these accidents happen that we don't hear about.

Also, wasn't New Orleans the city where they said no thanks to the meeting of the virology conference last year during the ebola outbreaks?

When it gets to 11] monkeys, it may be time to run.

I posted a link to a USA Today investigative series on MKMoniker's Sad State of Health thread. It had a number of articles about breaches in US bioterror facilities being run by the CDC and Homeland Security. It was kind of scary how many they had uncovered.

Bloomin humans always infecting my monkey brothers and sisters.
Our time will come.
Oh yes indeed.