NEW YORK — Thirteen years after building a state-of-the-art laboratory for the world’s most dangerous germs, the nation’s top public health agency is asking for more than $400 million to build a new one.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the current lab building in Atlanta is quickly wearing down and cannot be upgraded without shutting down the facility for years. The lab investigates deadly and exotic germs such as Ebola, smallpox and dangerous new forms of flu.
The agency disclosed its plans for a new lab Friday.
The CDC lab is one of only eight U.S. labs with the security and safety features necessary to work with the highest-threat germs, said James Le Duc, director of one of them, the University of Texas’ Galveston National Laboratory. Five of the eight are run by the federal government.
The lab is housed in a 400,000-square-foot concrete building in the heart of the CDC’s main campus. It uses eye scanners and other high-tech security measures to restrict access. Workers wear protective gear, and there’s a web of computerized systems that monitor workers, lock doors, and ensure that dangerous germs don’t escape.
It opened in 2005 and cost $214 million, although the lab area that handles the most fearsome bugs didn’t begin work until 2009. It replaced a CDC lab that had operated for 20 years. The architect firm that worked on it, HDR Inc., predicted that the building would serve the CDC for 50 years.
Some experts said they are a little surprised CDC is talking about replacing the high-containment lab so soon.
“Having a lab being replaced after about 12 years seems unusual,” said Stephen Higgs, director of the Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University.
Some parts needed at the CDC lab are no longer made and engineers determined a new building is necessary because of the complexity of the systems, said Dr. Inger Damon, who oversees much of the lab work involving dangerous germs.
It will take four years to construct a new building and related infrastructure, so the money is needed now, CDC officials said.
The CDC is asking Congress for $350 million for the lab and more than $50 million for related work.