--- title: CDC: Up to One Dozen Lab Workers Potentially Exposed to Ebola description: Up to one dozen workers at the CDC's Atlanta campus may have been exposed to a misplaced sample of the Ebola virus, agency officials said on Wednesday. canonical: https://time.com/3646979/cdc-ebola-exposure-atlanta/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-24T21:38:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:07:40.740Z article:section: Health og:title: CDC: Up to One Dozen Lab Workers Potentially Exposed to Ebola og:description: Up to one dozen workers at the CDC's Atlanta campus may have been exposed to a misplaced sample of the Ebola virus, agency officials said on Wednesday. og:url: https://time.com/3646979/cdc-ebola-exposure-atlanta/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02517b5e80bcae37/6987773c0b72e3ac5c6dcd5c/cdc-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: CDC Chief Dr. Thomas Frieden Updates Media On Dallas Ebola Response og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CDC: Up to One Dozen Lab Workers Potentially Exposed to Ebola twitter:description: Up to one dozen workers at the CDC's Atlanta campus may have been exposed to a misplaced sample of the Ebola virus, agency officials said on Wednesday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02517b5e80bcae37/6987773c0b72e3ac5c6dcd5c/cdc-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Atlanta Lab Workers Potentially Exposed to Ebola, CDC Says  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Dec 24, 2014 9:38 PM UTC  Exterior of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters on Oct. 13, 2014 in Atlanta. Exterior of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters on Oct. 13, 2014 in Atlanta.Jessica McGowan—Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Dec 24, 2014 9:38 PM UTC Up to a dozen workers at the CDC’s Atlanta campus may have been exposed to a misplaced sample of the Ebola virus, agency officials said on Wednesday. An agency spokesperson [told](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-reports-potential-ebola-exposure-in-atlanta-lab/2014/12/24/f1a9f26c-8b8e-11e4-8ff4-fb93129c9c8b%5Fstory.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm%5Ftwitter%5Fwashingtonpost) the _Washington Post_ that scientists mistakenly transferred the sample to an unsecured laboratory for testing. The technician who handled the sample and upwards of a dozen people in the area were being assessed for exposure risks. A CDC official said the technician at greatest risk had not developed symptoms and would be monitored for 21 days. The exposure occurred Monday afternoon, and was discovered and rapidly escalated to supervisors by Tuesday. [Read more at the _Washington Post_.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-reports-potential-ebola-exposure-in-atlanta-lab/2014/12/24/f1a9f26c-8b8e-11e4-8ff4-fb93129c9c8b%5Fstory.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm%5Ftwitter%5Fwashingtonpost) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3646979/cdc-ebola-exposure-atlanta/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3646979/cdc-ebola-exposure-atlanta/"},"headline":"Atlanta Lab Workers Potentially Exposed to Ebola, CDC Says","datePublished":"2014-12-24T21:38:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:07:40.740Z","description":"Officials say up to a dozen CDC employees might have been exposed","url":"https://time.com/3646979/cdc-ebola-exposure-atlanta/","keywords":["ebola","atlanta","CDC","Infectious Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02517b5e80bcae37/6987773c0b72e3ac5c6dcd5c/cdc-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02517b5e80bcae37/6987773c0b72e3ac5c6dcd5c/cdc-ebola.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CDC Chief Dr. Thomas Frieden Updates Media On Dallas Ebola Response","caption":"CDC Chief Dr. Thomas Frieden Updates Media On Dallas Ebola Response","creditText":"Jessica McGowan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3646979/cdc-ebola-exposure-atlanta/","name":"Atlanta Lab Workers Potentially Exposed to Ebola, CDC Says"}}]}] ```