In a follow-up to a report last week, the Defense Department announced Monday additional laboratories and one new state have been added to the list of sites that received low concentrations of live anthrax samples.
In line with Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work’s pledge of a transparent DoD laboratory review process, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren provided the update to reporters on the number of labs and locations which received the samples.
Warren said 66 laboratories in 19 states and Washington, D.C., as well as three foreign countries are now known to have received the live anthrax samples.
“The new state that we’re adding is Pennsylvania,” he said. “Thirty-one people remain on post-exposure prophylaxis, so that’s no change.”
In addition to Washington, D.C., Warren said the states identified as having received live samples are California, Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Washington, Illinois, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
“The [number of] countries remain the same,” he said, citing Australia, South Korea and Canada.
These locations include all identified academic, federal and civilian facilities affected, Warren said.
6 thoughts on “Anthrax update: Live samples sent to 66 labs in 19 states”