Emergency Drill to be Conducted at National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories

For Immediate Release: June 3, 2013

Contact: Ellen Berlin (617) 520-7115, eberlin@webershandwick.com

EMERGENCY DRILL TO BE CONDUCTED AT NATIONAL EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES LABORATORIES

(Boston) – On Wednesday, June 12th at approximately, 9:00 a.m., Boston University (BU) will conduct a full-scale emergency response drill at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at 620 Albany Street. This drill is part of the NEIDL’s ongoing safety and training program for laboratory personnel and internal and external response officials.

This drill will simulate a security incident at the NEIDL. The participants in this exercise include: NEIDL operations staff and researchers, BU Public Safety, Boston Emergency Medical Services, Fire and Police Departments and the Boston Public Health Commission.

While the drill will have no affect or impact on neighborhood traffic, there will be a number of local emergency response vehicles parked at the NEIDL.

Following this exercise, all participants will convene to review and critique the response in order to continuously improve response and training.

BSL-4 research is not being conducted at the NEIDL now and will not commence until the completion of several regulatory and judicial steps.

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