Bubonic Plague Update
The missing-bubonic-plague story is getting stranger. And there's a Nashville connection.

Dr. Thomas C. Butler, the researcher in charge of the potentially dangerous biological agent that was reported missing Tuesday, was arrested Wednesday night, accused of making a false statement to a federal agent. Butler told the FBI the 30 vials under his control were missing as of Saturday, but "he knew they were destroyed prior to that date," said Dick Baker of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Butler was the only person who legally had access to the bacteria, classified as a select agent that has to be registered with the International Biohazards Committee, an internal committee at Tech, as well as with the federal government.

The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal makes no attempt to explain why Butler might have wanted to mislead investigators about the missing vials. However, this story from the A-J says the events of yesterday had an "eerily familiar" feel, as the city practiced a bioterrorism response drill in September 2001.

In September 2001, city officials held a bio-terrorism exercise at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center that involved the intentional release of the same bacteria reported missing at Texas Tech Health Science Center. In the training exercise, the bacteria caused an outbreak in Lubbock of pneumonic plague, creating a national emergency and causing the death of 613 residents. Lubbock Public Information Officer Sandy Glass said Wednesday that she recalled the training. "No one mentioned it, but personally, I thought of it, and it helped me know what to think about and what could have gone wrong," Glass said. "That's one thing about those exercises, you can never train too much."

Google shows more than 400 stories on the missing-plague story; most are version of this AP story.