CDC workers may have been exposed to Anthrax

June 20, 2014
Zaina Kahuk
News Writer
Headlines

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says 75 workers may have been,unintentionally, exposed to anthrax. CDC officials say the risk of infection seems very low, but the employees were being monitored or given antibiotics as a precaution. The CDC stressed that the public is not in any danger. The problem was discovered last Friday where some of the anthrax may have become airborne in two labs. Workers in three labs who came into contact with the infectious samples were not wearing the right protective gear because they believed the samples had been inactivated. Procedures in two of the labs may have spread anthrax elements in the air. Anthrax infections can occur through skin contact but “if you inhale it and you get it in the lungs, that’s a lot more dangerous,” said Paul Roepe, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University Medical Center.