Deadly Biological Agent Vial Missing

An investigation is underway after a high-containment research program’s vial of a virus, a potential biological weapon of mass destruction by causing hemorrhagic fever, went missing from a laboratory in Galveston. 

A vial of the virus Guanarito is missing, according to a March 23 statement by University of Texas Medical Branch’ (UTMB) Galveston National Laboratory (GNL).

It is unknown to transmit person-to-person and poses “no appreciable public health risk,” some officials say.

Scott Weaver, the lab’s scientific director, said Guanarito is an emerging disease that has caused deadly outbreaks in Venezuela and, “The federal government prioritizes it for research because it has the potential to be used a weapon by terrorists,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

UTMB president Dr. David Callender says this is the first time a vial has been reported as lost.

An investigator discovered Tuesday that only four of five vials of the virus were in the grid system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was notified immediately, according to reports.

Callender said UTMB could not account for the one vial and that it contained less than a quarter of a teaspoon of the agent that had been stored in a locked freezer in a secure laboratory designed and approved to handle dangerous kind of biological material safely (Biosafety Level 4).

“UTMB has confirmed that there was no breach in the facility’s security and there is no indication that any wrongdoing is involved,” said Callender. “The investigation continues, but at this time, it is likely, but not confirmed, that the vial was destroyed during normal laboratory sterilization practices.

The lab has a Community Liaison Committee serving as an independent communication and oversight group for UTMB’s high-containment research programs.

The virus is native only to Venezuela and can cause hemorrhagic fever, according to a statement released for reasons of transparency.

“In the limited area of Venezuela where the virus is found, it is transmitted only by rodents native to the area and is not believed to be capable of surviving naturally in rodents in the U.S.,” said the statement.

Officials say they believe no public threat exists over the lost Bio-safety Level 4 agent.

Since founded, UTMB has had one of the only southeastern Texas hospitals to serve indigent or poor people, such as prisoners, the homeless, and single mothers, including patients with ailments very expensive to treat (such as burns).

Researcher at UTMB study Anthrax, avian influenza, bubonic plague, hemorrhagic fevers (like Ebola), typhus, West Nile virus, influenza, drug-resistant tuberculosis and others at the facility, according to the Galveston National Biocontainment Laboratory (GNL) Web site.

UTMB does not conduct research for the military, according to Wikipedia:

In 2003 UTMB received funding to construct a $150 million Galveston National Biocontainment Laboratory on its campus, one of the few non-military facilities of this level. It houses several Biosafety Level 4 research laboratories, where studies on highly infectious materials can be carried out safely.

The facility has a major contract with Texas Department of Corrections to provide medical care to inmates at all TDC sites in the eastern portion of Texas, Wikipedia says. “UTMB also has similar contracts with local governments needing inmate medical care.”

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/NIH) and other federal agencies, foundations and industry support UTMB’s research projects, according to the GNL Web site.

The facility has 12,222 net square feet of Biosafety Level 4 space, according to GNL.