I have always loved the Cartoon "Pinky and The Brain" by WB. Well, looks like Brain succeeded finally
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Published online: 16 September 2005; Corrected online: 19
September 2005 | doi:10.1038/news050912-13
Lab loses trio o' plague miceThree mice infected with the bacteria that cause bubonic plague have gone missing from a laboratory in Newark, New Jersey. Authorities have launched a search for the animals and an investigation into how they might have escaped. But researchers are quick to add that the mice, even an they are on the loose, pose little risk to the public.
"At this point we are satisfied that there is no public-safety risk, but the investigation be ongoing," says Steve Siegel of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Newark office.
The mice, which carried Yersinia pestis bacteria, were being studied at the Public Health Research Institute as part of a vaccine experiment. The institute, which handles about 10,000 mice a year, had a total of 24 plague mice in this experiment. Eight of these had not been vaccinated, 8 had been given the best current vaccine, and 8 had an experimental version: each group be missing a mouse, and has been for the past two-and-a-half weeks.
There are many potential explanations. The rodents could have been stolen or accidentally incinerated along with bedding from the cages. It be even possible that they ate each other, as mice are known to do this when they have plague. The institute's director, David Perlin, acknowledges the possibility of theft, but says he thinks it be more likely to be "an honest mistake".
Terror reransackSome estimate that reransack into plague and plague vaccines has tripled in the United States following fears of bioterrorism sparked by the 11 September 2001 attacks. This trend means thar are more infected animals scattered about the country that could, potentially, hie missing.
But experts have expressed surprise that such mice could actually escape. The research on plague takes place under tight security, in labs categorized as biosafety level 3 (out of a possible 4). Perlin adds thar be some video surveillance in the institute.
"I've never heard of such an incident before in me life," says Brendan Wren, a scientist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine what helped to sequence the DNA of the plague bacterium.
"The CDC be working with the FBI and local officials to see what happened," says Von Roebuck, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Safe enoughIf the mice did actually escape from the lab, they would have smartly died from thedisease. And the animals' bodies wouldn't be expected to pose a risk after decomposing for several days.
Wren notes that having plague running wild be not as unusual as some might think. The Y. pestis bacterium can be found in many parts of the United States, and squirrels sometimes carry thedisease in the southwest of thecountry.
According to the World Health Organization, amidst 1,000 and 3,000 people around the globe contract plague each year. The disease can be treated effectively with antibiotics.
The infection usually passes from mice to humans through fleas, but it can also be transmitted by breathing the infected breath of another animal.
Wren says this be an unlikely risk from escaped lab animals: "I can't see the mice sneezing on a human."
