SARS: French scientists lose 2,300 samples of potentially deadly virus
The renowned Institut Pasteur in France has admitted that it has misplaced 2,349 vials containing samples of the potentially deadly SARS virus and, despite enlisting help from France’s drug and health safety agency, have been unable to find them.
The Institut Pasteur has been quick to reassure the public that the vials do not pose any risk, according to The Local.
“The tubes concerned have no infectious potential,” a statement said. “Independent experts referred by health authorities have qualified the risk as 'nil' in regards to available evidence and literature on the survival of the SAS virus.”
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Paris laboratory loses deadly SARS virus samples
Latest update : 2014-04-16
The
Pasteur Institute in Paris has asked the authorities to investigate the
disappearance of more than 2,000 vials containing fragments of the SARS
virus, while insisting that missing samples represent no danger to the
public.
The institute said it discovered the loss of 29 boxes containing 2,349 tiny vials during a routine inventory check.
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.....The institute said it discovered the loss of 29 boxes containing 2,349 tiny vials during a routine inventory check.
Professor
Christian Bréchot, the head of the Pasteur Institute, said "human
error" was the most likely explanation, but that they "did not want to
rule anything out."
"From the start, we’ve known that the samples are harmless,’’ he said.
Severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an airborne virus. In a 2003
outbreak, it spread to 30 countries infecting 8,273 people and causing
a reported 775 deaths, the majority in Hong Kong, for a mortality rate
of almost 10 per cent.
An outbreak of a
SARS-like illness in 2013 caused a reported 40 cases worldwide, two of
them in France, where a 65-year old man died from the illness.
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