CDC Steps Up Security After Terrorist Attacks

A commercial jet, hijacked by terrorists, plunges into laboratories next to Atlanta's Emory University and explodes, unleashing some of the world's most deadly viruses. It's bad science fiction, say officials for the CDC. "Anything that would destroy the buildings would destroy the viruses," said Barbara Reynolds, CDC spokesperson. "They are very delicate, and they don't survive in the open air very long. Viruses don't live outside the human body very easily," she said.

The CDC is one of only eight institutions in the world to have the highest level of containment, called "Biosafety Level 4," for storing and handling the most dangerous known microbes, such as the viruses that cause Ebola, Lassa, Marburg and Machupo fever. But the strength of its existing security didn't stop CDC officials from taking extra steps last week immediately after three jets commandeered by terrorists slammed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, killing thousands. Before noon after the attacks, the agency asked nonessential employees to leave the CDC's main campus on Clifton Road, while members of the agency's bioterrorism and chemical weapons teams were sent to a more secure facility elsewhere in metro Atlanta. The campus has remained on "heightened security," said Reynolds, who declined to discuss any of the steps taken by the agency.

In recent years, the institution created new federal regulations governing the transportation of dangerous germs for research, such as requiring health officials to register and track anyone who receives or sends infectious viruses, bacteria or other microbes, and forbidding anyone without adequate laboratory facilities from receiving them. Reynolds added that stepping up CDC security wasn't the only action the institution had taken in response to last week's attacks. The agency tapped into supplies from the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile and sent several truckloads of supplies -- including medicine, bandages, IV equipment and ventilators -- to New York.

Back to other CDC news for September 20, 2001

Previous Updates