Posted on 10/14/2004 1:36:34 PM PDT by Calpernia
On 6 Oct 2004 at the railway station of Sants de Barcelona, a blue paper bag was stolen from the owner of a clinical laboratory. It contained 5 glass tubes, 15cm long x 2cm wide, with black stoppers, containing cultures of _Mycobacterium tuberculosis_.
They were wrapped in absorbent paper inside an opaque white plastic container with a black double cap. This was wrapped in brown parcel paper, with a letter describing the contents, which are highly contagious.
The finder is asked to contact urgently the Cuerpo Nacional de Policia, tel. 091, the local police, tel. 092, and the Servicio de Emergencias de la Generalitat, tel. 112.
-- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
[Perhaps bioterrorists should be the least of our concerns about letting dangerous microbes loose. We have seen how SARS got out of secure labs on more than one occasion by infecting researchers -- see ref. below -- and now we see how carelessly transported disease agents can be stolen, and probably thrown away in the trash as worthless, to possibly infect trash collectors and through them the community. - Mod.JW]
[see also: SARS - worldwide (28): laboratory investigation 20040506.1243] ..............................jw/pg/lm
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Thanks for the email forward!
What were they doing at a railway station? Shouldn't they have been in a SECURE location?
I'm glad the threat of terrorism is exaggerated and is merely a nuisance.
If the threat were real, this might be of concern.
*Hack* *Cough*
*Choke*
Reminds me of my favorite sign at Wilford Hall Medical Center: the "Induced Sputum Lab". Yeccchh.
Don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Tuberculosis takes about 9 months to treat. It is quite nasty.
Yes, but it's hardly the stuff of bioterror. Most people's bodies will isolate and contain most of it without pharmaceutical treatment. Additional treatment (daily doses of iforgetthename) pretty much neutralizes the threat.
If the Islamofascists were interested in eliminating our elderly and immuno-deficient populations, TB might be the way to go, but I doubt that's the case. You are more likely to be exposed on a city bus or crowded public market.
To be sure, I don't wish to minimize the horrible effects of TB on vulnerable people, or the very real risks associated with treatment for exposure (liver damage is possible).
You've been to "Big Willie" too, huh? =)
Wonderful!!!
Spain is now a Commie run Country. I wouldn't be surprised if they aided the terrorists.
October 2004 thread.
Is this connected to the outbreak of TB in America?
Interesting question, though, granny.
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