Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control were left dealing with a different kind of outbreak last week after hackers planted a virus on the agency's website

Unspecified malware hidden among legitimate audio and video clips and planted on the agency's podcast site had the capability to infect visiting surfers. The podcast site was taken down after the attack was discovered last week, AP reports.

Early indications are that hackers had no access to sensitive information and did no mischief apart from planting malicious files on a site that normally provides audio and video material on public health issues. "Several hundred people" visited the podcast site in time between the malware was uploaded last Thursday and the time the site was taken down a few hours later, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner told AP. Surfers who visited the site recently are urged to scan their PCs for viruses as a precaution. ®

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