Hundreds of vials of deadly virus go missing from Australian lab in ‘major biosecurity breach'

The Queensland government on Monday (Dec 9) announced that hundreds of vials containing deadly live virus samples have been lost by a laboratory.

Australia’spublic healthdepartment, Queensland Health, has been instructed by the government to launch an investigation into what has been called a "major historical breach of biosecurity protocols," as per the media statement.

According to the report, 323 vials of various infectious viruses, which included Hendra virus, Lyssavirus and Hantavirus, went missing from Public Health Virology Laboratory in Queensland in August 2023.

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Hendra is a kind of zoonotic (animal-to-human) virus which is only found in Australia.

Hantavirus belongs to a family of viruses which can cause serious illness and death, as per the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. WhileLyssavirus is a group of viruses that causes rabies.

The lab in which the samples went missing provides "diagnostic services, surveillance and research for viruses and mosquito andtick-borne pathogensof medical importance," stated the release.

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As per the statement, the officials were not aware if the infectious samplesstolen or destroyed and said there is "no evidence of risk to the community."

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Tolook for the missing vials of viruses, the government has launched a "Part 9 investigation."

"With such a serious breach of biosecurity protocols and infectious virus samples potentially missing, Queensland Health must investigate what occurred and how to prevent it from happening again," said Minister Timothy Nicholls in the release.

"The Part 9 investigation will ensure nothing has been overlooked in responding to this incident and examine the current policies and procedures in operation today at the laboratory. This investigation will also consider regulatory compliance and staff conduct," he added.

Nicholls said that "proactive measures" have been taken by Queensland Health which included conducting audits to ensure the correct storage of materials and retraining staff on required regulations.

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Director of AI and Life Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston and PhD Sam Scarpino said that the situation has arisen because of a "critical biosecurity lapse."

"The pathogens reported missing are all high-consequence and could pose a threat to the public," he said while speaking to Fox News Digital.

As per Scarpino, the three pathogens can lead to very high fatality rates in humans.

"Some hantaviruses have case fatality rates of up to 15%, or over 100 times more lethalthan COVID-19, while others are more similar to COVID-19 in terms of severity," he stated.

All three pathogens can also put animals and livestock under high risk, he said. "Given the limited ability for any of these pathogens to transmit from person to person, the risk of an epidemic is very low," said Scarpino.

Meanwhile, in a media statement, Chief Health Officer Dr. John Gerrard said, "It’s important to note that virus samples would degrade very rapidly outside a low-temperature freezer and become non-infectious. It’s very unlikely that samples were discarded in general waste, as this would be completely outside routine laboratory practice."

(With inputs from agencies)