After Ebola, Flu Security Breach, CDC Hires Another Bureaucrat

A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia September 30, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Tami Chappell

[From article]
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to hire a chief of laboratory safety, a new post that has taken on more urgency after a CDC scientist was possibly exposed to Ebola in a laboratory last week.
Creating a new high-level safety position was a key recommendation of a months-long internal investigation into the mishandling of anthrax and bird flu in CDC labs this past summer, according to an internal CDC memo obtained by Reuters.
Those incidents called into question safety practices at more than 1,000 laboratory and support facilities across the CDC's sprawling network of scientists.
[. . .]
In a congressional hearing last summer, angry U.S. lawmakers faulted a "dangerous pattern" of safety lapses at government laboratories handling deadly pathogens and called for an overhaul of controls at the CDC. Lawmakers were openly critical of Frieden but stopped short of calling for his resignation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/31/us-health-ebola-usa-cdc-idUSKBN0K908E20141231

Exclusive: CDC to hire lab safety chief after Ebola, bird flu mishaps
BY JULIE STEENHUYSEN
CHICAGO
Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:07am EST