Vials of deadly SARS virus 'go missing' in France

French institute Luj Paster has admitted losing more than 2,300 samples of the potentially deadly SARS virus. Researchers revealed yesterday that 26 boxes, containing 2,349 vials of the disease, had gone missing from Institut Pasteur in Paris. Alarmingly, they only discovered the samples had vanished after carrying out a routine inventory.

But they have been quick to reassure the public the vials do not pose a health risk - saying the contain only fragments of the virus, and therefore cannot pass on the infection. 'The tubes concerned have no infectious potential,' a statement from the institute said.

Researchers believe the samples may have been destroyed - either by accident, or without any record having been made. 'The theory of human error is the most probable, but we are not ruling anything out,' said Christian Bréchot, director general of the institute.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is a contagious respiratory illness that first appeared in China in November 2002, when it killed 775 people and infected around 8,000.

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I see this is not mentioned on ATS.This is some worrying news although the authorities are claiming that this is not posing health risk.We should keep an eye on future SARS outbreaks.Scary news.

reply to post by xavi1000


Scary! Ok, they say they don't pose a risk as they only contain fragments of the virus but I ask: what if they end up in the hands of biochemists or scientists? Could they reproduce the fragments into whole viruses?

Agartha
reply to post by xavi1000

 

Scary! Ok, they say they don't pose a risk as they only contain fragments of the virus but I ask: what if they end up in the hands of biochemists or scientists? Could they reproduce the fragments into whole viruses?

Afcourse they can.

Already Posted www.abovetopsecret.com...

Now why would any scientific organization need that many viles of this virus? Sounds more like a chemical warfare stash to me. I am sure this is not all of their stash, probably just a small part of it.

reply to post by rickymouse


Actually Ricky L'institut Pasteur is a public funded research laboratory conducting fundemental research into trying to stamp out some of the worst viruses and other nasties through out the world. They also have the only P4 lab in France and work with Marburg, Ebola etc...

I worked for 6 years there researching Plasmodium Falciparum (or Paludisme)... One of the biggest killers in the world...

No nasty Gvt military stuff going on at Pasteur im afraid folks.

Sorry for the spelling folks... Darned iphone
Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by Rodinus


Did you work with this system at all? www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

originally posted by: rickymouse
reply to post by Rodinus

 

Did you work with this system at all? www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

No, I worked with another team :

jid.oxfordjournals.org...

Kindest respects

Rodinus

originally posted by: Rodinus

originally posted by: rickymouse
reply to post by Rodinus

 

Did you work with this system at all? www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

No, I worked with another team :

jid.oxfordjournals.org...

Kindest respects

This new article seems to be related to the article from oxfordjournals you posted. www.sciencedaily.com...

Rodinus