Bubonic Plague Samples Missing in Texas

LUBBOCK, Texas - Authorities on Wednesday were looking into the disappearance of samples of bubonic plague from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
A statement from the university said vials of bubonic plague, being used to improve treatment of plague victims, were reported missing to campus police on Tuesday.
Rest of the story is here

story.news.yahoo.com.../ap/20030115/ap_on_re_us/bubonic_plague_5

I don't know what is scarier that it could be stolen or maybe just misplaced!!!

they say they found them, that's assuming they were missing at all. i'm sure someone said hey lets move these and see how long it takes for someone to miss them.

The FBI said Wednesday that vials containing samples of lethal plague reported missing from Texas Tech University had been located. "We have accounted for all those missing vials and we have determined that there is no danger to public safety whatsoever," FBI Agent Lupe Gonzalez said. He said the vials, about 30 in all, were recovered Wednesday but gave few details. He wouldn't disclose whether they were stolen or merely misplaced, but said a criminal investigation was continuing.

Here's the story link: www.cbsnews.com...

How can Bubonic plague not be a danger to people?A report in the UK stated that these vials could only have killed one person each and could not have been used as a WMD.Is it possible this strain of Bubonic Plague is not infectious.

It can,at the very least,be described as an irony that the two cases in which laboratory enhanced biological weapons,that we know of,which could or have got into the wrong hands(Anthrax and now Bubonic Plague)have not originated from a crumbling Russian Federation or an evil despotic Middle Eastern dictator but from the USA.



[Edited on 16-1-2003 by John bull 1]

The scientist who said they were missing now reports he destroyed them. He's to appear in court today to answer a few questions.

Pointed questions.

By a judge who isn't amused at having Lubbock turned into a scare warehouse.

And then he has to go explain himself to the head of the Medical School.

If he's lucky, he'll be out of a job, discredited, and barred from further practice. If he's unlucky, he'll be all that plus fined and jailed.

I find it odd, that a disease that with no help from human tampering, killed in a few decades if even that long, 1/4 of Europes entire population, can be considered, harmless....

But if you really want some bubonic plague you only need to get armadillos from New Mexico and Arizona, they are riddled with them.

Sincerely,
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