Galveston BioDefense Lab

[nebenaube]

So... does anyone know what they had there?

Were they working with the reconstituted 1918 flu? Were they working with human variants of Bird Flu? How about Smallpox? Eboloa? Tuberculosis? Hanson's Disease? Rabbit Fever? Hemorrhagic Fever? Yellow Fever? Swine Flu? West Nile? Plague? Typhus?

Were samples destroyed before the storm hit?
Is the lab still secure?

What the incubation period is for the various pathogens they did have there?

They would tell us right?

right...

[undeterred]

1. It's all part of the experiment to see which pathogens survive.

[htuttle]

2. I didn't think the lab had actually opened yet

I thought I read that they were still in the final stages of construction.

[nebenaube]

3. thanks... that's a relief... n/t

[Ian David]

4. I hope they're building it on pontoons. n/t

[EFerrari]

12. I read a partial inventory of their stock. Tropical stuff plus ebola

and anthrax, the usual. The official word is that it was destroyed on purposed before the evac, but, someone who worked there said that is unlikely because some of the material was very rare. They went on to say, iirc, that the people who took care of it depended on the stuff for their work and livelihood so they would probably be very careful.

Not very comforting, is it?

I'm sorry, I don't remember the source. It was up over the weekend -- maybe Saturday afternoon.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Kick for more attention. n/t

[bdamomma]

6. kick

[Lisa0825]

7. It s fine.

UTMB had some flooding, but the labs containing high level bio agents are very secure. I don't have the link, but I did read it somewhere, plus I have seen presentations on their security features, and all the redundancies included in the systems.

here is one artcle:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6005618.html

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has checked in daily with officials at the Galveston lab since the hurricane struck, as is standard procedure, said Von Roebuck, CDC's spokesman for biosecurity issues. The lab's emergency power is working and "we've not heard of any problems or issues concerning the facility," he said."

[Supersedeas]

9. probably a good idea to keep an eye on this--given recent history

[ColbertWatcher]

10. "we've not heard of any problems or issues concerning the facility"

Coming from an administration that doesn't listen that comment is not very reassuring.

[Voice for Peace]

8. "We've not heard of any problems...." but are ordering mandatory evacuations..

why those evacuations of people who survived and don't want to leave?

[Lisa0825]

11. Because the island has no infrastructure.

There is no water, sewer, or electricity. Power lines are down all over the place. The traffic from people coming to see their homes impeded the emercency workers from getting to the sites and doing their work. It had nothing to do with the lab. Tehre are actually a number of employees at UTMB handling critical recovery roles. It has not been fully evacuated, just evacuated of non-necessary staff. I work there myself and get the updates.

Believe me, UTMB is not some right wing shill organization looking to pull off a conspiracy. It is a teaching hospital with a long and respectable history.

[Javaman]

13. I'm currently reading Lab 257 about the Animal Disease research Lab on Plum Island...

since they were also doing biowarfare research at that facility, I can bet you, the same was going on there as well.

If bio samples aren't refrigerated and there is a mosquito outbreak, much as I suspect after a hurricane, it won't be pretty if any of those samples get into any standing water.

there are a host of lock down procedures but given the expanse of the damage, I would love to hear what they do in an emergency of this type.

I would suggest holding your breath a lot. LOL