Plague Infected Mice Missing fm NJ Lab

The FBI and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the disappearance from a New Jersey research lab of at least three mice carrying a deadly strain of plague.
The rodents have been missing for two weeks.

abcnews.go.com...

The article goes on to say that they feel it poses little risk to the public as the mice will probably die off soon however, it does raise several questions such as how secure our labs that carry bio level 3 or 4 viruses are.

Furthermore, even though the mice will die how likely would it be for a bird a known mouse eater to come and pick up the mouse and either eat it and thereby contaminate itself and so the progression goes.
Much like the bird flu fear. We could have the potential of contamination through feces and birds in transit not to mention the occasional house cat that just may happen to find the wrong mouse.

Not really a conspiracy just makes you wonder how these things can happen.

Human error, usually.

Well, at least they noticed they were missing...

Originally posted by Tinkleflower
Human error, usually.

Well, at least they noticed they were missing...

yeah that is they key. Kind of reminds you of the beginning sequence of 28 Days Later

original piece by DG.

wow nice going. you would think the mice carrying the bubonic plague would be under more survillance than the presidant.

i would hate to be the person that had to report that problem...............

boss: so how are the bubonic mice studies coming along

scientist: oh they are getting along alright

Boss: thats great. ya know i would like to see the little critters

scientist: oh well sir i dont think that is possible right now

boss: what are they sleeping or something? i promise i wont be loud. i just want to see the poor diseased little fellers...

scientist: well sir, i'm afraid to say that we have misplaced them

boss: misplaced them? how do you misplace mice carrying the bubonic plague?

scientist: well sir, they are small and they scurry

boss: scurry?

scientist: that means run fast in sparatic patterns sir.

boss: i see, of course. well we need to find those mice STAT!

scientist: we have looked everywhere sir. i dont know what else we can do.

boss: this is a matter of our nations health...thousands could die. i will contact the president and see if he will sign a bill to give us 1 billion dollars for the purchase of various forms of cheese. we are bound to catch them..and many more for further experiements

scientist: sir i really dont think that is a good idea to cover the nation with cheese!!

boss: then we have no other choice...

scientist: and what other choice would that be?

boss: to infect you with the bubonic plague and use you for observation instead



Kind Regards,
DigitalGrl


[edit on 10/01/2004 by DigitalGrl]

[edit on 10/01/2004 by DigitalGrl]

[edit on 10/01/2004 by DigitalGrl]

correct me if I am misunderstanding -- they are saying that we shouldn't worry because the mice will die from the disease right? Well it is my understanding that handling the mice (alive or dead) will transmit the disease but also any fleas that feed on the mice then feed on humans or other animals will spread the disease.

I would still be concerned.

It isn't as though it doesn't exist -- there are cases of it most years - in fact if I remember right there was a pretty well reported case of it in NYC last year. But to tell people that it isn't a concern at all is wrong. Not to mention if doctors know there is a chance and see symptoms they don't see often they might know quickly enough to treat the person with the right antibiotics etc.

I think Plague is Different than Bubonic Plague, 2 diseases, but they are both equally deadly.

From the article:

"This is the black death," said Richard Ebright, a microbiologist at Rutgers University. "This is the disease that killed a quarter of Europe's population."

That sounds like the bubonic.....and it wasn't it spread by the fleas that jumped off the cold, dead rats and onto whatever live, warm varmit (including humans ) that was passing by?? [Once it gets into the host's lungs, the host begins to cough and it becomes pneumonic ( not pneumonia) .....spreading thru the air, like a cold, and the rats are no longer needed.]

We can hope these mice lived in such a sterile environment that they were flea-free.

I don't think that it will pose a problem within the community as we can treat the plague with antibiotics. Now if it was a pneumonic form then some would probably sucumb to it. I think in terms of wildlife there may be a problem. As I stated in my original post: if a bird were to come by and carry the mouse to another location and ingest it, the bird would have the virus present in it's body. Same would go for any animal ingesting the dead mouse and it could potentially spread amongst animals.
I think the real question raised is the measures that should be taken and secured so something more lethal and communicable to people doesn't "escape" from our labs.
Human error happens but with folks dealing with deadly viruses in a contained environment I think attention to detail should be for most.