Government-owned laboratories appear to have issues when it comes to handling dangerous pathogens. In mid-June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that nearly 84 scientists and staff working in Atlanta laboratories were put at risk because a high-level biosecurity lab sent them inactivated samples of the potentially deadly anthrax bacteria.
On Tuesday, July 8, the CDC revealed what appears to be another government mishandling of dangerous viruses. The agency said that scientists cleaning an unused part of a storage room in a Food and Drug Administration laboratory on the National Institutes of Health's Bethesda campus in Maryland last week discovered old vials of smallpox virus that appear to date back from the 1950's.
What's disturbing about the discovery is that the laboratory in Maryland is not only unapproved to keep the virus, it is not also equipped to handle such dangerous pathogen. Smallpox, which is caused by the variola virus, was a contagious and life-threatening disease characterized by fever and blisters that often leaves permanent scars. Because of aggressive global vaccine campaigns, the disease was eradicated in 1979 and no longer occurs anywhere in the world.
The World Health Organization has only sanctioned two repositories for smallpox worldwide, the CDC laboratory in Atlanta and the State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology (VECTOR) in Russia, which WHO inspects to ensure that these repositories are safe and secure.
Initial testing showed the vials indeed have smallpox-virus DNA. Additional testing, which will take two weeks, will also be conducted to determine whether or not the materials can grow in tissue culture, after which the samples will be destroyed.
"Overnight PCR testing done by CDC in the BSL-4 lab confirmed the presence of variola virus DNA," CDC said in its statement. "Additional testing of the variola samples is under way to determine if the material in the vials is viable."
The CDC said that there is no evidence suggesting that the vials were breached and no infectious exposure risk to lab workers or the public has been identified. The vials were also immediately secured in a containment laboratory in Bethesda and then transported to CDC's high security facility in Atlanta, Georgia on July 7 assisted by law enforcement agencies.
CDC said that the World Health Organization was already informed about the discovery and invited to participate in the investigation. The agency likewise said that WHO will witness the destruction of the materials.
