According to sources, unsterilized laboratory wastewater from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, erupted out of a corroded 50,000-gallon outdoor holding tank on May 25, 2018. The tank, containing waste from labs working with Ebola, anthrax, and other lethal pathogens, had become overpressurized, expelling the liquid through a vent pipe.

An estimated 2,000-3,000 gallons streamed into a grassy area just a few feet from an open storm drain that leads to Carroll Creek — a centerpiece of downtown Frederick, Maryland, a city of about 80,000, an hour’s drive from the nation’s capital. Records indicate that none of the facility’s workers noticed the tank’s malfunction during the three-hour ordeal, despite the plant being under federal scrutiny due to an escalating series of safety failures.

Prior to the outdoor tank failure, other lab waste storage tanks inside the sterilization plant had also experienced breaches. On May 17, 2018, following devastating storms, workers discovered the plant’s basement was filling with a mixture of rainwater and leaking wastewater from the facility’s long-deteriorating tanks.

The steam sterilization plant, known as “the SSP,” was built in 1953 and was designed to process wastewater from Fort Detrick’s biological laboratories. Despite its importance to public health, by May 2018, the 65-year-old plant had become a rusting, leaking, temperamental hulk. A replacement plant, completed at a cost of over $30 million, suffered a “catastrophic failure” in 2016 and was irreparable.

Lab inspectors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) failed to recognize the plant’s disrepair. The CDC has since created a new policy and task force to oversee wastewater decontamination systems in labs.

Samuel Edwin, the director of the CDC’s select agent regulatory program, was hired from USAMRIID in 2016, where he had spent eight years as the biological surety officer responsible for ensuring compliance with federal regulations. Edwin claims he was not aware of any corrosion or leak issues while he worked at USAMRIID.

In the aftermath of the incident, CDC inspectors arrived at Fort Detrick on May 21, 2018, and spent two days inspecting the facility. Upon their departure, they allowed USAMRIID to resume some research activities. However, further complications arose during the subsequent Memorial Day weekend when an automatic shut-off feature designed to prevent outdoor tanks from overfilling was deactivated, causing the spill.

An employee from the National Cancer Institute, situated in close proximity to Fort Detrick, alerted authorities after witnessing wastewater overflowing from a tank and entering a storm drain inlet that leads to Carroll Creek. Despite reporting the incident on Friday, May 25, no one inspected the tank until noon, and even then, no leakage was observed.

It was the persistence of the unnamed National Cancer Institute employee that finally spurred action. Following the holiday, they reached out to the Fort Detrick safety manager, providing photographic evidence of the wastewater leak. This finally caught the attention of Fort Detrick Command and USAMRIID’s leadership.

However, it took another day for state and local authorities to be informed.

A critical concern loomed: what exactly was in the laboratory wastewater that had been released?

Had viable organisms such as anthrax bacteria entered public waterways, the fallout could be catastrophic for USAMRIID, Fort Detrick, and the CDC regulators who permitted their continued operation despite the makeshift sterilization plant.

Although the likelihood of people or animals being infected was relatively low due to dilution by floodwaters, public outrage and negative headlines were all but guaranteed.

The contents of the wastewater remained unclear, as USAMRIID and Fort Detrick officials provided only vague assurances that their tests hadn’t detected any pathogens. Testing reports were withheld from the public.

In the face of this safety breach, government agencies appeared to defer to USAMRIID and its expertise, rather than acting as public watchdogs.

Prior to the wastewater leak, USAMRIID had been experimenting with 16 organisms. Officials stated that none of these were detected in tests conducted on the concrete pad and ground near the tanks. Anthrax was of particular concern due to its environmental persistence. Other potential contaminants included Ebola virus, Lassa fever virus, and a host of other dangerous pathogens. However, USAMRIID officials maintained that all test results were negative.

USAMRIID’s Testing Significance Questioned

USAMRIID and Fort Detrick officials only conducted environmental tests on May 31 and June 1, a week after a tank overflowed at the facility. The delay, combined with intervening rain, could have had a dilutional effect on any pathogens present, complicating the testing process.

Details about the number of samples tested and the detection limits of the testing methods used remain undisclosed. Factors such as rain, wind, or sunlight may have impacted the tests’ ability to detect organisms after a week.

Despite repeated requests, USAMRIID and Fort Detrick officials have not released testing reports, nor have they disclosed the number of samples tested. According to a written statement from USAMRIID, the test plan was approved by the CDC. However, the CDC stated that USAMRIID developed and conducted its testing independently.

Months after initial inquiries, USAMRIID revealed that only five swab samples were collected from various locations at the plant to determine if pathogens had escaped. Army officials cited additional validation testing inside USAMRIID’s labs, claiming that lab drains contained enough disinfectant to kill any microbes, implying that the heat-treating process was not necessary.

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, however, showed that these drain tests were not performed under realistic conditions. Instead, they were conducted in empty labs with no ongoing work or animal presence. Furthermore, these tests were only performed once, following the 2018 lab leak, raising concerns about the thoroughness of USAMRIID’s safety measures.

[Editor’s note: In 2019, federal lab regulators ordered the prestigious U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to halt all work with dangerous pathogens, such as Ebola and anthrax, due to potential threats to public health and safety.

Army officials maintained there was no safety threat and no pathogens had leaked outside the laboratory after the 2018 flood. However, investigative reporter Alison Young’s new book, released on April 25, exposes repeated safety breaches and oversight failures at Fort Detrick, Maryland, prior to the 2019 shutdown. This article is adapted from Alison Young’s “Pandora’s Gamble: Lab Leaks, Pandemics, and a World at Risk.”]