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By Bloomberg

A technician at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have been exposed to the Ebola virus when a sample being used in research was sent to the wrong laboratory, adding to a series of mishandlings of deadly pathogens by the agency this year.

A plate with material from an Ebola experiment was sent from a high-security biosafety laboratory to a less-secure facility at the agency’s Atlanta campus, the CDC said today in a statement. Live Ebola virus needs the highest security level, requiring special equipment and handling, according to the agency’s rules.

A lab technician who processed the material was the only person believed to be exposed to the virus, the agency said. The worker has no symptoms and will be monitored for 21 days. In addition, fewer than a dozen people who entered the second lab have been contacted about the incident “to make them aware -- no belief there was an exposure and none requiring monitoring at this time,” Barbara Reynolds, an agency spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

The CDC has come under fire this year for careless handling of lab samples. In July, the agency was questioned by U.S. lawmakers, and placed a freeze on biological materials being moved from high-security labs after two mishaps. A deadly strain of avian flu was inadvertently shipped in March to a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory. Then in June, more than 80 CDC workers were potentially exposed to anthrax when live bacteria was transferred to a low-security lab at the agency’s Atlanta campus. A separate audit found anthrax stored in unlocked refrigerators in unrestricted hallways and bacteria carried in Ziploc bags.

Smallpox Found

Also in July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration discovered samples that tested positive for smallpox DNA in old vials dating back to the 1950s. The CDC said it was investigating how those samples ended up in an FDA lab.

CDC Director Tom Frieden said he was “troubled” by the Ebola incident.

“We are monitoring the health of one technician who could possibly have been exposed and I have directed that there be a full review of every aspect of the incident and that CDC take all necessary measures,” Frieden said in the statement.

Ebola Outbreak

Ebola has swept through the west African nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with almost 19,500 reported cases, including more than 7,550 deaths, the World Health Organization reported today. There is no cure for the disease, which is spread through direct contact with body fluids, such as blood. The virus can cause bleeding from the eyes, ears, and nose.

Normally, patients are given fluids, blood transfusions and antibiotics with the hope that their immune systems can fight off the infection. Several experimental medications are also being tested against the disease.

The lower-security CDC laboratory that received the Ebola virus had been decontaminated and the sample destroyed as a “routine procedure” before the error was discovered yesterday by scientists, the agency said. The lab was cleaned a second time and is closed while the agency’s investigation is under way.