US health chief faces Congress over flu, anthrax mixups

The chief of the US government's top public health agency is to testify in Congress Wednesday over a series of dangerous mixups in the handling of influenza and anthrax. Tom Frieden, who leads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to face tough questions from the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations at the hearing, beginning at 10 am (1400 GMT). Last week, the CDC admitted to five incidents over the past decade — two of them in recent months — in which workers shipped anthrax, flu, botulism and a bacteria known as brucella to other labs without following proper de-activation and safety procedures.