“Accountability is the essence of democracy. If people do not know what their government is doing, they cannot be self-governing.” – Garry Willis
In a serious biosecurity breach at a state-run Australian laboratory, nearly 100 live samples of a deadly virus have gone missing. In total, 323 virus samples have been reported missing, including two vials containing hantavirus, 223 containing lyssavirus, and 98 vials containing the deadly Hendra virus.
Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced on Monday that the virus samples went missing from the Virology Laboratory in 2021 in what he called a “major breach” of biosecurity protocol, according to ABC News.
Nicholls also added that the biosecurity breach was not discovered until August 2023 and the lab has been unable to confirm whether or not the materials contained in the vials were removed or destroyed. The vials went missing after a freezer they were being stored in at the lab broke down.
Nicholls said that the transfer of those materials is causing concerns and the materials may have been removed from the secured storage and lost, or otherwise unaccounted-for. According to the World Health organization, “the Hendra virus causes severe and fatal disease in both infected horses and humans.”
The Hantavirus can cause headache, dizziness, chills, fever, myalgia, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pains, diarrhea, respiratory distress and hypotension. Lyssavirus displays similar illnesses like rabies, which affects the central nervous system and causes paralysis, delirium, convulsions, and death.
In a positive note, Nicholls expressed that there is nothing to suggest that these have been taken from the laboratory and they don’t have any evidence that Hendra virus has been weaponized in any way in any research laboratory. “Of course, all this kind of research is taken in secret, but we are not aware that this has been weaponized in any way. The process of weaponizing is very sophisticated and it’s not something an amateur can do,” he added.
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