Dangerous bugs sent to Debenhams

TB bacteria were delivered to store by mistake

A sample of infectious tuberculosis destined for scientists at Porton Down ended up in the curtain section of a Plymouth department store.

The bacteria - believed to be of a type resistant to traditional antibiotics - was sent from the US to help UK researchers develop vaccines.

The phial containing the bacteria in a liquid suspension was wrapped in two layers of packaging and sent by courier.

The case, which happened earlier this year, may raise concerns over the safe transportation of potentially-dangerous bacteria.

Fortunately, staff at Debenhams did not proceed further when an initial examination of the package revealed "biohazard" warnings.

They called local environmental health officers and police, who quickly reunited the shipment with its rightful owner.

Label - but no contents

The Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR) laboratories at Porton Down in Wiltshire had itself realised the package was missing when the label arrived, but not its contents.

Staff there informed the police, who began checking all the deliveries made by the courier firm on that day to find it.

A spokesman said that all procedures and guidelines for sending such materials by post had been followed.

He said: "The methods of packaging are organised to minimise any potential hazard.

"The package was recovered undamaged and returned to CAMR intact within 24 hours. At no time was there any exposure of the public to the material."

While TB is not among the most infectious organisms dealt by UK scientists, exposure to the liquid would still have represented a risk.

It is not known whether the strain being sent from the US was of a variety not usually found in the UK, or what level of drug resistance it possessed.

Cases of tuberculosis which have significant resistance to antibiotics do occur in the UK, but multi-drug resistance is a major problem in the US.