"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
Authorities are searching for three mice infected with bubonic plague that disappeared from a research laboratory about two weeks ago.
While health experts say the risk to the public is slim to none, the incident highlights ongoing security failures at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
The mice went missing from the lab of the Public Health Research Institute, which is located on the UMDNJ campus and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI are investigating, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Thursday's newspapers. The rodents may have been eaten by other laboratory animals, although the possibility that they have been stolen has prompted the institute to interrogate two dozen of its employees and conduct some lie detector tests, the newspaper said.
UMDNJ did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday morning.
If the mice got outside the lab, New Jersey Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said they would have already died from the disease.
Federal official said the mice may never be accounted for.