This week, the World Health Organization urged laboratories around the world to destroy samples of a flu virus that was sent out for testing.
It was a strain known as the Asian flu virus that killed millions of people nearly 50 years ago.
The strain was never supposed to be distributed.
"We're doing everything we can to make sure there's not a threat to human health," Dr. Julie Gerberding of the Centers for Disease Control said.
The problem began behind the walls of a Cincinnati lab when the decision was made to send out samples of one of the most deadly flu viruses ever -- to thousands of labs around the world -- as part of a routine testing program.
"It's inexcusable that a strain that caused somewhere between 2 million and 4 million deaths in 1957, and was a live virus, was mailed out to 5,000 labs around the world, that's ridiculous," Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague, said.
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Deadly flu
An deadly virus was mailed out for testing.
 
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If anyone in any of those nearly 5,000 labs had made a mistake handling this virus it could have been disastrous because the virus spreads so easily from person to person.
Here's how it happened: Last fall, the College of American Pathologists in Chicago asked Meridian Bioscience Inc., to send out samples of an influenza type A virus to nearly 5,000 labs in 18 countries as part of a standard test to make sure the labs can accurately identify pathogens that make people sick. The labs generally handle specimens that doctors get from patients.
So, why did they choose to ship out a virus that once killed millions, and that no one born after 1968 has immunity to?Because it was convenient, according to the CDC.
"It was probably a situation where the advantages of using a strain that grow well and is easily manipulated in the lab, were they driving force," Gerberding said.
Now the labs in question, like the one in Arizona, have been ordered to kill the virus.
"It's called autoclaving. You put it in an oven and you zap it so hot, it can't survive," Dr. Karen Lewis of the Arizona Department. of Health Services said.
The CDC says there have been no cases of this flu reported and there is now little risk to the public.
"The quantitative hazard is very low, even zero," Gerberding said.
The company that sent out the viruses has not made any comment. The whole incident has raised questions about how potentially deadly viruses are chosen and shipped around the world.
