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CDC investigating Ohio company for distributing deadly flu virus
Infection Control Monitor, April 15, 2005
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating an Ohio-based life science company after it distributed samples of a deadly strain of flu virus to nearly 4,000 laboratories, mostly in the United States, according to the CDC.
Meridian Bioscience, which is located in Cincinnati, sent out the virus H2N2 between September 2004 and March 2005 so that labs could test their ability to detect strains.
The World Health Organization does not consider H2N2 - which killed between 1 million and 4 million people in 1957 - a serious threat. However, no one born after 1968 has any immunity to it.
"It is a risk, but it is considered low," says senior World Health Organization scientist Klaus Stohr, MD.
Considering the strain's deadly history, Stohr says "it was an unwise decision to send it out."
It is unclear why Meridian Bioscience used H2N2 in proficiency panels. CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, says it is hard to believe Meridian Bioscience did not understand the toxicity of H2N2.
The CDC is asking laboratories to submit proof that they destroyed the H2N2 samples, which were also sent to Canada, Saudi Arabia, Jamaica, Mexico, Lebanon, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Italy.
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