FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — An investigation of three disease samples missing from a Fort Detrick lab found that the samples were likely destroyed, according to Army officials.
The probe started after the samples were reported missing last year and was not connected to an inventory started after the FBI concluded that a researcher was responsible for the 2001 anthrax mailings, officials said Wednesday.
Samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis were discovered missing last year in an inventory of a group of samples left by a departing researcher, said Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. VEE occurs naturally, typically in horses and mules, though it can also make humans ill, she said.
An extensive investigation found no evidence of criminal activity, said U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey. Vander Linden said the the samples were likely among those destroyed when a freezer malfunctioned.
The investigation was separate from the suspension of much of the research at the lab in February while officials made sure the lab had accounted for all dangerous germs and poisons. That inventory was expected to take up to three months and Vander Linden said it was not yet complete.
The decision to halt research for the inventory came after a review of inventory controls prompted by the FBI's conclusion that Fort Detrick scientist Bruce E. Ivins was responsible for the anthrax mailings that killed five people and sickened 17 others in 2001.
Ivins killed himself in July after learning he would be charged in the attacks. His attorney maintains he was innocent.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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