U.S. military inadvertently sent live anthrax samples to labs in 9 states

On Wednesday, the Pentagon confirmed that live samples of anthrax were inadvertently sent to private research labs in nine states and one in South Korea.

"The Department of Defense is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their investigation of the inadvertent transfer of samples containing live Bacillus anthracis, also known as anthrax, from a DoD lab in Dugway, Utah, to labs in nine states," spokesman Col. Steve Warren said. "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. The DoD lab was working as part of a DoD effort to develop a field-based test to identify biological threats in the environment."

The samples were shipped out on April 30 to a military lab in Maryland, and from there were sent to eight companies across nine states. When a lab in Maryland detected their shipment contained live samples, they contacted the CDC, ABC News reports. Three workers who were possibly exposed to the spores have decided to take antibiotics. The Department of Defense often sends dead or inactivated spores to research facilities, officials say, and when they do ship live samples it is under specific safety protocols.

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