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Biotech Science

Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague 320

Posted by Zonk from the who-wants-bubons-i-do-i-do dept.
Buford C Nuzzle-Chunks writes "PhysOrg is reporting that 'The FBI and New Jersey officials have started a hushed but intensive search for three missing lab mice reportedly infected with deadly strains of plague'. The Washington Post says it's not that big a deal, but I was dismayed at the PhysOrg article's quote from Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University microbiologist, about certain federal bio-terrorism labs: 'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
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Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague More

Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague

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  • All we need is... (Score:5, Funny)

    by NotFamous ( 827147 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:13AM (#13576136) Homepage Journal
    Someone to build a better mousetrap!

    • Re:All we need is... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:19AM (#13576207)
      Pinky: 'What are we going to do tonight, Brain?'

      Brain: "What we always do, Pinky...try and take over the world!'

      Pinky: 'NARF!'
    • Someone to build a better mousetrap!

      Moustrap used to be better. It was wood and metal - very sturdy. We played it hundreds of times. Then, it changed into a cardboard and plastic pile of crap that breaks before you complete one game.

    • Re:All we need is... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:27AM (#13576292)
      Three plagued mice
      Three plagued mice
      See how they run
      See how they run
      They all run up to the ex-governors wife
      Who can't keep a man to save her life
      Did you ever see such a thing in your life
      As three plagued mice

  • The British are going to help you... (Score:5, Funny)

    by gowen ( 141411 ) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:13AM (#13576137) Homepage Journal
    ... just as soon as we capture the last of these rage infected monkeys.

  • Hushed? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Not so hushed now, is it?

    In any case, they're just mice... Don't Panic.

    • Do panic, please... (Score:4, Funny)

      by daniil ( 775990 ) <evilbj8rn@hotmail.com> on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:29AM (#13576312) Journal
      For these mice might have fled to Russia to join the civilization of rats [pravda.ru] reported to exist somewhere in the Urals. Now, just imagine what will happen if these rats start using these mice as suicide terrorists...
    • On the contrary, plauge spreads from the fleas on rats biting other rats and humans and other animals. I think we have a lot to worry about. Especially with other catastorphies on the horizon like the avian flu. Link that with a lot of AIDS compromised immune systems and all those other people on steroids and other medication that compromises the immune system and we have a unique situatation that has not existed before when pandemics were present.

      Be afraid, be very afraid.

  • Have they checked the obvious? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by codergeek42 ( 792304 ) <peter@thecodergeek.com> on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:14AM (#13576143) Homepage Journal
    If they're "infected wqith a deadly plague," perhaps they simply died?

    • Re:Have they checked the obvious? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by The Angry Mick ( 632931 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:20AM (#13576216) Homepage

      One of the articles I read said that a scientist was speculating just that. They got out and probably died not too far from the lab.

      What I'm curious to know is, if they died and were subsequently consumed by either a larger animal (dog, cat, etc.) or smaller insects, would the plague be transferable to the consumer? In other words, could a roach eat the remains of the mouse, a rat eat the roach, and the whole plague start over yet again?

      • Re:Have they checked the obvious? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Fishstick ( 150821 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:33AM (#13576358) Journal
        IIRC, Plague's primary tranmission vector was fleas:

        The classic mode of transmission to humans is a fleabite. Alternately, broken skin serves as a portal when tissue or blood of an infected animal is handled (skinning or evisceration of infected animals). Competency of the flea to serve as vector for transmission of plague to humans depends on its willingness to feed on a human host and its tendency to regurgitate intestinal contents during a blood meal. Fleas from sylvatic rodents feed on humans only reluctantly. However, the Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) is an effective vector because of its tendency to regurgitate and to feed on nonrodent hosts. When the flea takes a blood meal from an infected rodent, stomach enzymes cause a clot to form, blocking the flea's proventricularis. At its next attempt to feed, unable to swallow due to the blockage, the flea regurgitates plague bacilli into the bite wound.

        http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1819.htm [emedicine.com]

        Not sure if you can catch/spread the plague by eating an infected corpse. Seems unlikely this would move through the food chain.

      • It does need incubation... (Score:5, Informative)

        by jpellino ( 202698 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:50AM (#13576504)
        We worked with this about 20 years ago - Pasteurella sp., though this species is similar. It needs incubation at body temperature, outside of that it doesn't do well - IIRC cultures were dead in less than a day out of their ranges, but we autoclaved everything jsut for good measure. Plus we signed a big piece of paper from NIH saying we'd take full responsibility for it all. Some good news is that not all strains are human pathogens. More good news is it doesn't form spores, so dead bacteria is dead bacteria. Plus it responds well to antibiotics. What we call "plague" bacteria are very common in livestock - ag people call it "shipping fever" because it's usually not a problem until you stuff lots of animals in a stock trailer or car and let them breath, scratch and bite each other for a week, and you can have high mortality on arrival. The wild strains of some of these are nearly ubiquitous in rabbits, and more common than you'd think in household and farm animals.
      • ...if they died and were subsequently consumed by either a larger animal (dog, cat, etc.) or smaller insects, would the plague be transferable to the consumer?

        Since bubonic plague is a bacterial condition (from Yersinia pestis) the simplest answer is: Yes.

        The point is, though, that the bacterium has to enter the bloodstream by one means or another, and a pandemic is unlikely since the condition (at least in its original form) is treatable by common antibiotics.

        A more insightful question here might be "what

      • Re:Have they checked the obvious? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by ryanov ( 193048 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @11:06AM (#13576661)
        There is also some uncertainty about whether or not they actually existed. The experiment called for 24 mice and one of each type (3 groups) is missing. Either they changed the plan and used 21, or someone took three. There's no paper trail, apparently, so no one is really certain.

  • well thats good (Score:5, Funny)

    by JeanBaptiste ( 537955 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:14AM (#13576146)
    "'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"

    Given what they serve at McDonalds, thats probably a good thing. I'd rather take my chances with the mice.

  • Jersey (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by kevin_conaway ( 585204 )
    The mice should feel right at home.

    /I'm from there.
    • I -work- at the institution in question. We can't seem to stay out of the news lately.
      • To clarify -- UMDNJ. I was apparently a little bit misinformed about our relationship. Come to find that our animal facility is a model of security and care, and something like this could never happen here.

  • Easy Solution Then... (Score:5, Funny)

    by DaedalusLogic ( 449896 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:15AM (#13576161)
    Just build a McDonald's at each of these facilities... Boom! You have your security, and the burger joint has a fresh supply of ingredients on hand.

  • What's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:15AM (#13576164)
    We're talking about New Jersey. I could understand being concerned if it was somewhere else, but New Jersey? This probably improves the environment and air quality there.

    • Re:What's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Lenins_beard ( 914874 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:21AM (#13576220)
      Hey. Be nice. I have relatives incarcerated there.
    • As a NJ resident, I gotta agree. Considering you can't really dig in the soil or swim in a river without getting sick here, what's a few mice with the plague gonna do?

      Besides, you can't go very far in Jersey without running into a Superfund site, so the mice probably already have cancer.

  • Just great (Score:4, Insightful)

    by chris09876 ( 643289 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:16AM (#13576168)
    It's always nice to see that the people who deal with dangerous biohazard materials are so careful with what they do. I guess you just get complacent after awhile... it happens with everything. It's unfortunate that there aren't better routines and checks in place to be absolutely certain this kind of thing doesn't happen.

    Even if it's no big deal this time, who's to say what could happen in the future if mutant infected lab animals are allowed to roam free? ;-)

  • Three plagued mice..... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:16AM (#13576169)
    Three plagued mice, come on everybody sing along....... Three plagued mice.....
    • Three plagued mice, Three plagued mice...
      See how they die. See how they die.
      They all ran way from the laboratory and died from
      the plague which they were injected with.
      Three plagued mice..
    • o/~ three plagued mice
      three plagued mice
      See how they run,
      See how they run!

      They all ran after
      The farmer's cat
      It ate the mice
      and died...
      Did you ever see
      Such a sight in your life
      As three plauged mice? o/~

  • maybe... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jumbo Jimbo ( 828571 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:16AM (#13576172)
    I heard that they ran off with the farmer's wife, who cut off their tails with carving knife.
  • Are these mice visually impaired?

  • oh (Score:3, Funny)

    by KFowler ( 915146 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:18AM (#13576188)
    At least now we know that if something goes wrong, FEMA knows what to do.

  • Yot are we gonna do tonight, Brain? (Score:5, Funny)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:20AM (#13576219) Homepage Journal
    Yot are we gonna do tonight, Brain? Try to take over the world?

    No, Pinky. We are going to try to find a pharmacy and cure this <hack> damn cough!

  • Common in NM (Score:4, Interesting)

    by glarvat ( 753298 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:21AM (#13576223)
    That's nothing. The bubonic plague is actually relatively common (as plagues go) in New Mexico [state.nm.us]... Those mice are probably on a cross country trip to join their brethren.

    • Exactly. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      This is a complete NON-Story that has its roots in the Patriot Act.

      First. As glarvat mentioned, the plaque is everywhere. In NM, my home state, rabbits, prarie dogs, gophers, you name it carry the plaque. So if Osama wants to get ahold of some Yersinia pestis he need look no further than the bushes outside his mud-brick hut in Northwestern Pakistan.

      Second. The real reason this is an issue is because of the professor from Texas who had apparently misplaced some samples of the Ames strain of Anthrax, which is
  • It should be evident by recent performance of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA all of the billions spent to be ensure biological WMD stay under wraps.

    As GW would say..."They're doing a great job!"

  • It's really tempting to drive around and look for the mice myself. Not only would I be the first human to die of the plague in quite some time, I would no longer have to live in New Jersey. Win, freakin' win, baby!
    • Plague is not that uncommon in the southwestern US. Doctors (at least in areas where plague is endemic) are aware of the signs and symptoms of plague and plague can be successfully treated with garden variety antibiotics, including tetracycline.
  • Well, that explains the guy pushing a cart down the street yelling "Bring out your dead!" /from New Jersey
  • Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
    The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
    The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
    The Dead Collector: What?
    Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
    The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
    The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
    Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
    The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
    The Dead Collector: He isn't.
    Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
    The Dead Body That Cla

  • You don't know the half of it (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ebrandsberg ( 75344 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:23AM (#13576253)
    How many labs were flooded during Katrina? How many of those were doing research of this type? What, you can't answer that? Point is, nobody knows WHAT people will be exposed to down there. Three rats with Plague is nothing compared with what could be unleashed.
  • It makes me feel all warm and tingly inside, that I go to school at NJIT, which is essentially across the street from where these mice were released. It's also great that their escape seems to coincide exactly with the beginning of the Fall semester.

    The one thing that comforts me, is that the mice will either be shot in a gang related incident, or become drug addicts, before they are able to spread their tasty payload... This also gives me a good excuse to not go to class.
  • The bubonic plague is treatable with antibiotics as long as you treat it fairly soon.

    And this is NOT like it's something that we've wiped out completely and would annihilate mankind if it reappeared -- actually there are still between 1000 and 3000 cases every year [wikipedia.org], including some in North America.

    So yeah -- if you live near where the mice escaped and you come down with a nasty flu (and those, uh, buboes), you should make sure you get it checked out immediately... but it's no disaster.

  • McDonalds security is no laughing matter (Score:5, Funny)

    by Chairboy ( 88841 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:25AM (#13576282) Homepage
    McDonalds security is no laughing matter.

    Consider, for example, the international fugitive known as the "Hamburglar".
  • Bah, we always have prairie dogs around colorado with Plague.

    Nobody seems to care much.

    http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/openspace/nature/pdog_ plague.htm [boulder.co.us]

    Maybe I could sell prairie dogs on ebay to dim terrorists, been looking to supplement my income.

  • Sercurity quote (Score:3, Informative)

    by zebadee ( 551743 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:28AM (#13576303) Homepage
    I find it hard to believe the line about the security, it seems like it's been put there to add impact to an otherwise not that important story. I work in university labs, granted not with things like the plague, but anywhere animal use takes place there is pretty good security. This is perhaps not a result of the dangers of the animals escaping but rather to stop animal-rights activists from getting in. Yes, it could be better, but the McDonalds quote is just flamebait IMHO.
  • Probably like this...

    Guy in white coat: "Can I get some mice? And some Bubonic plague? And funding?"

    Lab Director: "Sure. Just make sure you don't repeat the whole Rhesus Monkey - ebola thing that you did in Congo back in '79"

    Guy in white coat: "These mice will never escape! I'll put them in a bigger cardboard box this time!"

  • The really scarey part.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by evenprime ( 324363 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:29AM (#13576315) Homepage Journal
    The really scarey part is that they had to interview the staff and give them lie detector tests to see if anyone had liberate^H^H^H^H^Hstolen the mice....

    I don't get those PETA/ALF types....

  • funny you should mention this:

    You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"

    At my local McDonald's [google.com] there are plenty of mice! Perhaps the missing lab mice are among them.

  • This would get really scary and cool in that "wow we're going to die in a pretty neat way" if these mice were also the recently developed super mice that could regrow any part of their bodies except for their brains.
  • Bubonic plague is not something that is really that dangerous in modern "1st world" countries. It's primary infection vector (fleas carried by rats and mice) is simply not something that can easily support large outbreaks without other factors contributing like general unsanitary conditions and large populations of free roaming rodents cohabitating with people. While this presented a large enough problem in the Middle Ages when generally unsanitary conditions were combined with high population density and a
  • These young'ns. A little plague gets loose and people get all a-tither. Heck, I visited a few relatives in late August in the middle of Anthrax country and haven't turned blue yet:

    http://www.rcgazette.com/news/082905.htm [rcgazette.com]

  • The squirrels in the foothills above my community have been known to carry bubonic plague for many years, but there's nothing anyone can do about it. I don't recall any cases of it having been passed to humans (campers, etc) as yet however.
  • I wish it was only a typo... I wouldn't mind some mice with plaque running around. Imagine the headlines...

    Fuzzy Mice, Teeth Escape Lab
  • "Two mice (Frankie and Benjy) escaped from Earth before the premature termination of its programme. They had belonged to an Earthling known as Trillian. They were rather keen to remove Arthur Dent's brain to reveal the ultimate question, which they had devoted a lot and time and money to finding."

  • Plague (Score:5, Interesting)

    by LordMyren ( 15499 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:48AM (#13576493) Homepage
    One of my neighbors got the plague. He's like one of the three people on the planet that somehow managed to catch the bubonic plague that year. What shitty luck.

    Evidently the good news for him is that he's now immune.

  • Douglas Adams was right! (Score:3, Funny)

    by CurbyKirby ( 306431 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:48AM (#13576494) Homepage
    The mice are the physical manifestations of superintelligent beings, sent here to weed off certain portions of the population deemed unworthy to perform the necessary calculations of the computer Earth.
  • The research lab is only concerned with animal dental hygiene. The mice just have really bad plaque.

  • Bring out your dead [RING] Bring out your dead (Score:3, Funny)

    by infonography ( 566403 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @10:52AM (#13576522) Homepage
    [thud] [clang]
    CART MASTER:
            Bring out your dead! [clang]
            Bring out your dead! [clang]
            Bring out your dead! [clang]
            Bring out your dead! [clang]
    CUSTOMER:
            Here's one.
    CART MASTER:
            Ninepence.
    DEAD PERSON:
            I'm not dead!
    CART MASTER:
            What?
    CUSTOMER:
            Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
    DEAD PERSON:
            I'm not dead!
    CART MASTER:
            'Ere. He says he's not dead!
    CUSTOMER:
            Yes, he is.
    DEAD PERSON:
            I'm not!
    CART MASTER:
            He isn't?
    CUSTOMER:
            Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
    DEAD PERSON:
            I'm getting better!
    CUSTOMER:
            No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
    CART MASTER:
            Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
    DEAD PERSON:
            I don't want to go on the cart!
    CUSTOMER:
            Oh, don't be such a baby.
    CART MASTER:
            I can't take him.
    DEAD PERSON:
            I feel fine!
    CUSTOMER:
            Well, do us a favour.
    CART MASTER:
            I can't.
    CUSTOMER:
            Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
    CART MASTER:
            No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
    CUSTOMER:
            Well, when's your next round?
    CART MASTER:
            Thursday.
    DEAD PERSON:
            I think I'll go for a walk.
    CUSTOMER:
            You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do?
    DEAD PERSON: [singing]
            I feel happy. I feel happy.
            [whop]
    CUSTOMER:
            Ah, thanks very much.
    CART MASTER:
            Not at all. See you on Thursday.
    CUSTOMER:
            Right. All right.
            [howl]
            [clop clop clop]
            Who's that, then?
    CART MASTER:
            I dunno. Must be a king.
    CUSTOMER:
            Why?
    CART MASTER:
            He hasn't got shit all over him.
  • "a Rutgers University microbiologist, about certain federal bio-terrorism labs: 'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"

    Why would this dismay you? More importantly, why would it surprise you?

    I doubt very seriously that the very low level, very unimportant labs devote much time to security.

    Bio-terrorism lab isn't synonymous with "lab full of the most dangerous bugs on earth." Some of them just aren't that important.

    Sounds like someone looking for something to get fired u
  • "Eating the mice", explained the late Gerald McBoingboing, "was the safest way of disposing of them once they had escaped the confines of the lab."

    Mr McBoingboing then started a bloody coughing fit and, collapsing like the WTC towers, expired.
  • Plague is endemic in the prairie dogs and such in the western US. There are a couple of cases of it in humans in Colorado every year or so. Personally I worry more about hantavirus.

    Plague isn't the big deal it was a few centuries ago. Most of us are descended from people who were exposed to plague (considering how widespread the epidemics were) and survived. We're just not as tasty to Yersinia pestis as those who didn't. It has about a 6% mortality rate worldwide these days vs 60% to 100%, depending on
  • There's a battle going on in Boston, Ma. USA right now about a new level 4 [nih.gov] biodefense lab [google.com] a local university and the CDC want to build downtown. The folks who will be running it are the same ones who recently accidentally infected themselves [google.com] with tularemia. So far there's been lotsa opposition, this will only add to the concerns.

    The Mass. Nurses Association [massnurses.org] has the best take I've read.

  • Not surprising. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheWhaleShark ( 414271 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @11:45AM (#13577094) Journal
    That quote is right on. I work in a BSL 2 lab (fooborne pathogens, like Salmonella, Listeria, E.coliO157:H7, and so forth) for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and I can certainly say that our "security" is laughable at best. We have a security guard posted at the front door to the lab from 9 AM to about 4 PM. Most people arrive at or before 8 AM.

    And a quick story about other outstanding security...adjacent to the building where I work is an office of the Department of Homeland Security. About 3 months ago, myself and one of my coworkers, who is about 25 (I'll be 23 in a few days), decided to go up and poke around. We're young lab workers, so we were just in street clothes; in particular, I was wearing a Slayer T-shirt and jean shorts (my professional-looking lab attire). Neither of us had our badges out, and we poked around Homeland Security for a solid 15 mintues. Nobody stopped us, asked to see ID, nor even asked if we worked there.

    Yeah, most labs could probably stand to beef up their security.
    • I work in a BSL 2 lab (fooborne pathogens

      In case anyone was wondering, barborne pathogens require a BSL 3 lab and bazborne are BSL 4.

      -

  • This really isn't a huge deal (Score:3, Insightful)

    by radiashun ( 220050 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @11:48AM (#13577130)
    Given that plague isn't a rare phenomenon (especially out West), I don't see too much to be concerned about with regards to infected mice running around. Some streptomycin or gentamycin should fix the problem. The article made this sound like it was wild-type Y. pestis, but if it were a hypervirulent type (which they wouldn't indicate), then I would be very concerned. The Soviet Union developed antibiotic-resistant strains of Y. pestis and the Japanese actually used it as a weapon against the Chinese (by dropping infected fleas from airplanes).
    Given the tidbits of information that have been published on N. Korea's BW program, I'm sure there are places in the US that study hypervirulent BW agents.

    I'm just amazed by the lack of security at this place, which should be BSLIII (the second highest level of containment).

  • Plague Mice (Score:3, Funny)

    by Dwedit ( 232252 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @12:14PM (#13577456) Homepage
    So are these Plague Mice 1/1 creatures which gain +1/+1 for each other Plague Mouse in play?

  • Media Hype (Score:3, Informative)

    by smclean ( 521851 ) on Friday September 16, 2005 @01:52PM (#13578495) Homepage
    It really isn't a big deal, and nothing more than a bunch of completely laughable media hype and ignorance.

    The plague in rodents is actually very common, and occurs naturally. Here in the town where I live, it's a known fact that many many rodents, a hell of a lot more than 3, carry the plague. Two cats this year were discovered in my town with plague. It's known to be spread all over the county. You don't see me posting stories on slashdot about it.

    See:http://www.turnto23.com/news/4883235/detail.ht ml?subid=22100581&qs=1;bp=t [turnto23.com]

    First I saw this stupid story on drudgereport, and tried to explain to some co-workers that it was totally not a danger to anyone, then I see it on slashdot the next day. Sigh. Stay away from my mountain stronghold.

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