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| Members of the Frederick community both praised and criticized The Frederick News-Post's "Beyond the Breach" series published Sunday through Tuesday. The three-part series detailed the April 2002 breach in containment at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. [Click here to view full story] |
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The breach called into question the ability of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to keep its own deadly agents within laboratory walls, seven months after the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the anthrax mailings that autumn.
The 2002 incident was considered a breach in containment because anthrax was found outside a containment suite, a group of laboratories and administrative rooms.
Through a Freedom Of Information Act request, The Frederick News-Post obtained a 361-page report on the 2002 breach compiled by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command, which oversees USAMRIID. The News-Post also obtained reports of Detrick workers’ potential exposures to biological agents between April 1, 2002 and Dec. 1, 2005.
Part three details USAMRIID's safety program, from 2002 to now.