Unleashing the Bad Boys??

So here we go. Some ideot decides to send a "lethal" virus around the world.
Read on....from an online news source:
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Lethal Flu Virus Sent Around the World
13-Apr-2005

In what was either an accident or a bioterrorism attack, potentially lethal samples of the Asian flu were sent to laboratories around the world by a U.S. testing organization. This flu strain appeared between 1957 and 1968 and killed four million people worldwide. Was this an accident—or an act of terrorism?

Testing kits containing the virus were sent to more than 3,700 laboratories in 18 different countries, from Brazil to Lebanon, in an act that is reminiscent of the anthrax that was sent to the news media and government officials a few years ago. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that ecause the virus hasn't been in circulation since 1968, people born after that date do not have antibodies against it, and current flu vaccines don't protect against it. If it infected just one person, it would spread rapidly.

The virus went to Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the US, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. Hong Kong and Japan say the flu strain they were sent has been destroyed.

The flu was sent in contaminated testing kits by the College of American Pathologists between October 2004 and February 2005. In April, US government officials asked the CAP to contact the labs to which samples had been sent, asking them to destroy them. Due to concerns about bioterrorism, this has been kept secret until now. The College of American Pathologists did not violate the law by sending out the kits, but the law obviously needs to be revised.

The H2N2 flu virus that was sent out was classified at Biological Safety Level 2, meaning not particularly dangerous. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is responsible for classifying viruses, says it was in the process of deciding whether to change the flu strain's classification--and then found out that it had sent out all over the world. Was this an accident or, as in the case of the anthrax mailings, is there a rouge terrorist at the CDC?

The WHO says there is no guarantee that every sample of the virus can be destroyed because some of the laboratories may have sent it on to other places. So far, no one has become ill from handling the virus.
But why send out kits like this at all? The same question was asked when it was discovered that anthrax is routinely sent from one lab to another. It turns out the kits are used to see whether labs can correctly identify a particular virus strain, but normally, current flu strains are the ones sent out. The only reason this is safer is that current flu shots will protect many people, plus people who have already gotten the flu will have an immunity against that strain.
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I hope the powers that be can get this one under control...
I feel a sniffle coming on...better go pop some Vitamin C!!
Happy Friday