An investigation of a US military facility’s mistaken shipments of live anthrax bacteria has turned up another live sample, this one from a 2008 batch sent to Australia, a US defence official says.
The disclosure, if confirmed, suggests the possibility of a broader problem among anthrax samples meant to have been made inactive at the US Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.
Little is known about the sample sent to Australia, including the type of laboratory that received it.
The US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sample was tested after the latest disclosure as part of the ongoing investigation into the handling of anthrax samples.
The Pentagon declined comment, saying it was trying to gather facts.
Suspected live samples sourced to Dugway have already been traced going to nine US states and a US air base in South Korea over a period from March 2014 to April 2015 before being discovered this month.
The US military says there are no known suspected infections or risks to the general public.
Four US civilians have begun taking preventive measures that usually include the anthrax vaccine, antibiotics or both.
Twenty-two people at the base in South Korea were also given precautionary medical measures although none of them has shown signs of exposure.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has begun an investigation.
It was unclear how many other samples from Dugway have been tested or what the results of those tests are.
On Thursday, the US army’s top general said human error probably was not the cause, saying preliminary information suggested US personnel at Dugway appeared to correctly follow official procedures.
The Pentagon was more cautious on Friday.
“There is an ongoing investigation and we need to let this develop,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.
Reuters