A small vial containing a rare but potentially deadly virus called
"Guanarito" that could be used in a bio-terror attack has gone missing
from a maximum-security University of Texas research laboratory.
The
Guanarito virus is native to Venezuela and is transmitted by rodents. It
causes internal bleeding and organ damage that is fatal for up to 30
percent of the people who contract it.
Officials at the lab are scrambling to explain what could have happened to it.
"There's
really no possibility of anything leaving the lab in a viable form
unless it is taken out intentionally," said Scott Weaver, scientific
director of the Galveston National Laboratory, according to USA Today.
"It's an obscure virus. Even among the scientific community, a lot of people haven't heard of this virus," he added.
"It just doesn't seem like the virus anybody would want to steal."
The
vial - which contains less than a quarter of a teaspoon of the virus -
was found to be missing from a locked freezer during a routine internal
inspection of the lab last week.
The facility, owned by the
University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) houses some of the deadliest
viruses in the country including ebola, anthrax and plague, and has
strict security measures.
Since the virus can be inhaled and there is
no known treatment or vaccine, scientists have to wear protective gear
that resembles space suits and have a decontamination shower after
leaving the lab, Weaver said.
Galveston and other research labs use bio-terror agents to develop vaccines and treatments.People
have become infected with the Guanarito virus by breathing dusty soil
particles contaminated by rodent droppings, according to USA Today, and
about one-third of those sickened will die from haemorrhagic fever.
"This
is clearly an incident that is very discomforting and embarrassing to
the University of Texas Medical Center and their national biosecurity
lab that they have there," said William Schaffner, chairman of
preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in an
interview with ABC News.
"You can be sure there are a lot of sweating people down the chain at that institution," he said.
Researchers
believe the vial was destroyed "during normal laboratory sterilisation
practices", according to a statement from UTMB President David
Callender.
The statement also said the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention was notified immediately after the vial was discovered
missing.
There were no indications of security malfunctions or
unusual access to the lab since the last inventory in November, when the
vial was present, according to USA Today.
Vial of deadly virus goes missing from US lab
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
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