Missing virus vial raises concerns at UTMB facility

Missing virus vial raises concerns at UTMB facility

www.chron.com

A vial containing a virus has gone missing from a laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, officials said.

The missing vial, which contains less than a quarter of a teaspoon a potentially harmful material, had been stored in a locked freezer, designed to handle biological material safely, within the Galveston National Laboratory on UTMB's campus, according to a statement from the medical branch released Saturday. During a routine internal inspection on Wednesday and Thursday, UTMB officials realized one vial of a virus called Guanarito was not accounted for at the facility. Th

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According to Galveston County The Daily News, a potentially deadly virus has gone missing from a secure biomedical research facility at The University of Texas Medical Branch’s Galveston National Laboratory.

With all the fanfare of "nothing at all to worry about," this incident was immediately reported to the CDC.

It's also interesting that while they have no idea where it is, they have all but ruled out it being stolen. Just doesn't add up.

www.chron.com
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reply to post by AnonymousCitizen


Ooh. A hemmorragic fever, never a good one to go missing.
According to the wiki's numbers it kills around 1 out of 4 infections, and spread through the air so it's considered as a possiblly viable bio weapon.

3] Because the virus is contracted by aerosol dissemination, concern arose shortly after the first cases emerged in 1989 due to fear of biological warfare. Potential biological terrorism agents were identified and categorized in 1999 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of the Congressional initiative to further response capabilities to biological weapons [4]

That's from the wikipedia page (on my phone or i'd link it).

Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever (VHF) is a zoonotic human illness first identified in 1989. The disease is most prevalent in several rural areas of central Venezuela and is caused by the Guanarito (GTOV) arenavirus belonging to the Arenaviridae family. The short-tailed cane mouse (Zygodontomys brevicauda) is the main host for GTOV [1] which is spread mostly by inhalation of aerosolized droplets of saliva, respiratory secretions, urine, or blood from infected rodents.[2] Person-to-person spread is possible, but uncommon.

Link.
I am sure that they should be able to trace who was in and out as I am sure this is a highly secure area right? Doesn't this happen quite frequently and they usually find it mislabeled or put in the wrong place? I wonder if this is ever the case or if they just don't want to freak out the public when they realize it has been stolen?

Yeah but will they track the vial down before the vial is poured all over the jungle gym equipment at a McDonalds or Burger King play land?

Scary stuff.

Cirque

reply to post by superman2012


Yeah.. I wonder how often it's a university student with a morbid fascination. People keep cobras, certainly there are some pathologists that like to keep the hot ones around and think it's exciting.

Originally posted by superman2012

Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever (VHF) is a zoonotic human illness first identified in 1989. The disease is most prevalent in several rural areas of central Venezuela and is caused by the Guanarito (GTOV) arenavirus belonging to the Arenaviridae family. The short-tailed cane mouse (Zygodontomys brevicauda) is the main host for GTOV [1] which is spread mostly by inhalation of aerosolized droplets of saliva, respiratory secretions, urine, or blood from infected rodents.[2] Person-to-person spread is possible, but uncommon.

Link.
I am sure that they should be able to trace who was in and out as I am sure this is a highly secure area right? Doesn't this happen quite frequently and they usually find it mislabeled or put in the wrong place? I wonder if this is ever the case or if they just don't want to freak out the public when they realize it has been stolen?

That sounds logical. These reports pop up from time to time. They are legally required to report missing samples, so if the news picks up on it, they will sensationalize it.

Google reports of missing virus samples or something like that, and there are many results. The follow-ups usually explain where it went.

If someone bothered to steal this particular virus, it was kind of a dumb choice. Since it does not pass person-to-person, I doubt it would make much of a weapon.

Sounds like a job for Ethan hunt..

With the level of security in a lab containing samples like this, NOTHING simply goes missing.

If it actually did, then it was taken... But by who, how, and for what reason?

Ah! A Twelve Monkeys moment!

Considering that this is a Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever, Could this have been stolen a while back and be connected to all the polo horses from Venezuela that died when they came to the United States? Conspiracy? What better way to hide a infection that killed the polo horses then to use a virus that is only found in there own country?

www.huffingtonpost.com...

WELLINGTON, Fla. — Ladies in their spring dresses and men in casual linen suits sipped champagne and nibbled hors d'oeuvres as they waited for the U.S. Open polo match. What they ended up with was a field of death.

Magnificent polo ponies, each valued at up to $200,000, stumbled from their trailers and crumpled one by one onto the green grass. Vets ran out and poured water over the feverish, splayed-out animals. But it was no use. One dead horse. Then another. Then more. And within a day, 21 horses were dead.

State veterinarians were still performing necropsies but suspect the horses died from heart failure brought on by some sort of toxic reaction in their bodies. Possibly tainted feed, vitamins or supplements. Maybe a combination of the three.

While polo club officials and several independent veterinarians insisted the deaths appeared to be accidental, it remained a mystery that puzzled and saddened those close to a sport that has long been a passion of Palm Beach County's ultra-rich.

And don't forget Michael Brown from FEMA.

en.wikipedia.org...

Before joining the DHS/FEMA, Brown was the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association, (IAHA), from 1989-2001. After numerous lawsuits were filed against the organization over disciplinary actions that Brown took against members violating the Association's code of ethics,[7] Brown resigned and negotiated a buy-out of his contract.

He was targeting horses from different countries and was fired from the International Arabian Horse Association, (IAHA) for doing it before going to FEMA where he had no business being.

help.cbp.gov...

Pets are required to be inoculated before entering the US. Would the Polo Horses also have been forced to get shots? Was it spiked for the Polo horses and who gave it to them?

Great, just great, someone stole the T-virus....
Where's Mila when you REALLY need her???

reply to post by BlueAjah


It does pass person to person, just not easily. It's not a horrible choice for a bio weapon though because of the fact it is spread as an aerosol. So if they can cultivate it an attack would be bad enough, it just wouldn't likely kickstart an epidemic. Either way I doubt there's much chance that's why it's missing.

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by BlueAjah

 

It does pass person to person, just not easily. It's not a horrible choice for a bio weapon though because of the fact it is spread as an aerosol. So if they can cultivate it an attack would be bad enough, it just wouldn't likely kickstart an epidemic.

Unless it can be weponized, and/or combined with other contagions/pathogens, and/or through the use of alternative vectors. (Someone with evil intent, skills, and access to this)

In the wrong hands, something like this could potentially be far more dangerous than you are assuming.

I do agree, that the likelihood that something like this just walked out the door is minimal. So, I wouldn't get too worried about it now...

The real nasty and more dangerous biological weapons are already out there, and they are designed to kill better than anything stored in research labs and facilities like these.

IMO

Dbl post

reply to post by ausername


I think mines a fair assessment. I was replying to someone that said it wouldn't be a viable bio weapon, and I think it could be if the right people go it. The fact that it spreads mostly as an aerosol is what makes it bad, but the chances of it continuing to spread from person to person isn't much. How bad an attack would be would mostly be related to how many people were in the area it was released and how much virus there was. I doubt there would be many secondary infections outside of where the attack was made if it could be utilized.

Excuse me?
Would the inifected people be able to spread it through their exhaled breath.or bodily fluids, ?
Seems they would be infectious for a time anyways when they were not aware of it(incubation period)
I am not so sure people dont pass this on easily.....in care giving situations its easily transmissable....

reply to post by AnonymousCitizen
Well I live a little over an hour from Galveston (in fact my eldest was born there) and nobody I know has the virus so I guess whoever has it hasn't weaponized it. UTMB Galveston is huge and more than likely it's around there somewhere- not stolen but more than likely in the wrong lab there. If people start coming up with a deadly virus anywhere within a few hours drive of here rest assured I will post info immediately unless one of our members who live on Galveston Island (there are a few) beat me to it.

So do people really believe they would give the real name of a "lost virus vial" to the public?

Could be anything yep even that T-virus.

Wait and Watch if people start dropping around you or turning in to zombies then you will know.

Recently watched the stand spreading misinformation is standard sop when things get "lost".

reply to post by neo96

Recently watched the stand spreading misinformation is standard sop when things get "lost".

Misinformation spelled M-O-O-N.