Army biodefense lab in Frederick, Md., completes inventory of dangerous germs and toxins

Army biodefense lab completes germ inventory

FREDERICK, Md. — The Army says workers at a military biodefense laboratory in Frederick have finished an inventory of dangerous germs and toxins.

Spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden said Tuesday that a summary of the inventory findings will be released Wednesday.

The Army ordered the action at Fort Detrick in February after a spot check found 20 samples of Venezuelan equine encephalitis in a box of vials listed as containing 16.

The discovery came amid tightened security following the suicide of Bruce Ivins, the Fort Detrick scientist identified by the FBI as the mailer of anthrax-filled envelopes that killed five people in 2001.

The inventory halted much of the laboratory research at Fort Detrick. Vander Linden says the work gradually resumed as the inventory of each laboratory suite was completed.