Hey! I wanted my influenza virus WITHOUT cheese!

Yikes. This was a big oops:

Scientists Scramble to Destroy Flu Strain

Scientists around the world were scrambling to prevent the possibility of a pandemic after a nearly 50-year-old killer influenza virus was sent to thousands of labs, a decision that one researcher described as "unwise."

Nearly 5,000 labs in 18 countries, mostly in the United States, were urged by the World Health Organization to destroy samples of the dangerous virus because of the slight risk it could trigger a global outbreak. The labs received the virus from a U.S. company that supplies kits used for quality control tests.

"The risk is low and we've taken appropriate action," said Dr. Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The risk probably IS low, but sheesh. People need to pay attention to what they're doing. At least it wasn't the 1918 strain! And I hope the accidentally distributed virus isn't destroyed in the same way that all but two vials of the smallpox virus was "destroyed".

Oh well, this will be something for the media to pounce on, in case they're bored reporting about Michael Jackson's general weirdness and the popapalooza. And I'm sure this will somehow be Bush's fault.

You can keep an eye on influenza activity patterns here.

Hat tip: Medical Buzz