The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring one lab technician for signs of Ebola after the technician accidently handled live Ebola virus.
A lab error on Monday led to the possible exposure, the New York Times reported. A high-security lab sent live Ebola samples — instead of samples of a killed virus — to another CDC lab that is not equipped to handle live Ebola. The mistake was discovered Tuesday.
Now, the technician at the second lab who handled the sample will be monitored for signs of Ebola for 21 days, the virus' incubation period. Other people who work at the second lab were examined for possible exposure as well, according to the NYT.
This is not the CDC's first major lab error of the year, and the agency named laboratory safety to its year-end review of the most important public health challenges of 2014.