BIO-SCARE IN RIO AS BANDITS STEAL BACTERIA SAMPLES

[AussieMark]

Bio-Scare in Rio as Bandits Steal Bacteria Samples

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian authorities urged residents of Rio de Janeiro on Friday to be careful after lab samples of cholera and typhoid fever were stolen with a biologist's car.
Doctors and police in the Brazilian city said the bacteria had been securely packed and represented no risk if not opened, but acknowledged the samples could be dangerous if removed from the package.

Silvio Valle, a biosecurity expert with the government's Fiocruz research institute, graded the biohazard of the stolen material as two on a scale of four in televised comments, asking viewers to contact Fiocruz immediately if they found the box of samples.

A Fiocruz biologist was taking the samples to a conference in a neighboring state when she was carjacked at gun point on Thursday night.

Police said they found the stolen car in the early hours on Friday inside a shantytown, but without the samples in it.

Still, they said the criminals had obviously been after the car and did not know about the bacteria.

Armed robberies are frequent in crime-ridden Rio, which is one of the world's most violent cities.

Over the past five years, Brazil has reported small outbreaks of cholera, an acute infectious intestinal disease that can kill if not treated properly. Shots for typhoid fever, which also can be life-threatening, are recommended to travelers going to Brazil.

[BEER980]

Good catch tropicalweatherwatcher. Umm the carjacker's did not know about the bacteria and were only interested in the car. Ok so they found the car and not the bacteria. Not like any terrorists would be interested in the bacteria.

[streetsoldier]

OH, yeah...like Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path", Maoist guerillas) wouldn't love to have some of that in their arsenal? :-?