A research facility in Australia is in hot water over losing track of its viruses. Government officials recently confirmed a “major breach” at the state-run Public Health Virology Laboratory in Queensland that occurred in 2021—a breach resulting in the misplacement of samples containing several potentially deadly germs, including hantavirus.
Queensland officials reported the incident Monday. According to Health Minister Tim Nicholls, over 300 virus samples have gone missing. The government is now launching an investigation into the lost samples, though they are not believed to pose any danger to the public.
“There is no evidence of risk to the community from the 2021 breach, and our government is working to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Nicholls said during a press conference Monday. Officials didn’t notice the missing viruses until August 2023.
The misplaced samples contained Hendra virus, lyssavirus, and hantavirus. All three viruses are predominantly caught through contact with animals and can cause life-threatening infections. Hendra’s natural hosts are “flying fox” bats, hantaviruses are primarily found in rodents, and lyssaviruses can infect many mammals but tend to be found in bats (one notable member of the lyssavirus genus is the rabies virus).
Officials say the samples appeared to go missing sometime after a freezer used to store them broke down. It’s not known whether the samples were moved elsewhere and then lost, or if they were destroyed without being recorded as such. “It’s this part of the transfer of those materials that is causing concern,” Nicholls said.
As it stands, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for major concern. Officials say there haven’t been any recorded cases of Hendra or lyssavirus in the area over the past five years, and no recorded cases of hantavirus ever. And if the samples were misplaced and left out in the open, they would likely cease being a danger to anyone very quickly, according to officials.
“It’s difficult to conceive of a scenario whereby the public could be at risk,” said chief health officer John Gerrard. “It’s important to note that virus samples would degrade very rapidly outside a low temperature freezer and become non-infectious.”
Still, the misplacement of the samples is worrying enough, given the potential fallout of such incidents. Though a rarity, the misplacement or mishandling of germ samples has caused serious outbreaks in the past (some, though not all, experts and lawmakers contend that the recent covid-19 pandemic was caused by a lab leak). Officials say they have launched an investigation into the breach, which will include looking into why it took so long for the lab to notice the lost samples in the first place.
“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,” Nicholls said.
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