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SARS: French scientists lose 2,300 samples of potentially deadly virus
Institut Pasteur realized tubes were missing during a routine inventory check. Pictured posed.
BY HEATHER SAUL – 15 April 2014
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
investigation by the ANSM at the unnamed laboratory failed to locate the
samples, which have been missing since January. It has now filed a case
to the prosecutor of Paris to investigate the disappearance.
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.”
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.
"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.
An ICRC-led programme is working to reduce prison rat populations
Two
cases of pneumonic plague - more deadly than bubonic plague - have been
reported in Madagascar, a health official has told the BBC.
It comes after it was confirmed that there was a deadly
outbreak of the bubonic plague in a village in the north-west of the
island.
Pneumonic plague can be inhaled and transmitted between humans without involvement of animals or fleas.
It is the most virulent and least common form of plague.
It can kill within 24 hours. 'Most deaths'
Bubonic plague hit a village near Madagascar's north-western town of Mandritsara last week.
At least 20 people were reported to have died.
The plague is spread because of poor hygiene
The Pasteur Institute of Madagascar confirmed on Tuesday that
tests taken from some bodies in the village, near the north-western town
of Mandritsara, last week showed that they had died of the plague.
However, it did not say how many people had died.
Pneumonic plague is caused by the same bacteria that occur in
bubonic plague - the Black Death that killed an estimated 25 million
people in Europe during the Middle Ages.
But while bubonic plague is usually transmitted by flea bites
and can be treated with antibiotics, pneumonic plague is easier to
contract and if untreated, has a very high case-fatality ratio, experts
say.
At least 21 people have died this week in northern Madagascar after contracting pneumonic plague, the Health Ministry says.
According to the reports, a village near the northwestern town of
Mandritsara on the island of Madagascar is where at least 21 people
perished following a deadly outbreak of the plague, the ministry said on
Wednesday.
Medical experts from the Pasteur Institute in Madagascar confirmed
tests had identified their cause of death as the bubonic plague, a
disease that claimed 25 million lives in the Middle Ages.
Male Xenopsylla cheopis (oriental rat flea) engorged with blood. This
flea is the primary vector of plague in most large plague epidemics in
Asia, Africa, and South America. Both male and female fleas can transmit
the infection.
Image Source : Wikimedia.Org
Author
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A deadly outbreak of the bubonic plague is running rampant on the
island of Madagascar, medical experts have confirmed. Tests established
the disease was responsible for the deaths of at least 20 villagers in
the northwestern town of Mandritsara. The island nation last year
recorded the world's highest number of plague-related casualties, with
60 lives claimed by the flea-borne disease. Bubonic plague - also known
as the Black Death - wiped out an estimated 25 million people in Europe
during the Middle Ages but there have been few instances reported in
recent years. Health officials are investigating the cause of the
outbreak, thought to have originated in prisons with a prevalence of
rats that carry the disease. The Pasteur Institute said towns and cities
faced increased risk of infection as ongoing political crises took its
toll on living conditions. It is hoped a second round of presidential
elections on December 20 will end the political deadlock.
Biohazard name:
Plague (bubonic, human)
Biohazard level:
4/4 Hazardous
Biohazard desc.:
Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans,
and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as
Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue
hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa
fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or
unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this
level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is
mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain
multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous
detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all
traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are
electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time.
All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4
(P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate
the possibility of an accidental release.
Once feared as the Black Death, the rodent-borne disease that wiped out
one-third of the world’s population in the Middle Ages, bubonic plague
has killed 20 villagers in Madagascar in one of the worst outbreaks
globally in recent years, health experts have confirmed.
The confirmation that bubonic plague was responsible for the deaths
last week near the northwestern town of Mandritsara follows a warning in
October from the International Committee of the Red Cross that the
island nation was at risk of a plague epidemic.
The Pasteur Institute of Madagascar revealed on Tuesday that tests
taken from bodies in the village last week showed they had died of the
bubonic plague. The institute said it was concerned the disease could
spread to towns and cities where living standards have declined since a
coup in 2009.
The deaths are doubly concerning, because the outbreak occurred both
outside the island’s normal plague season, which runs from July to
October, and apparently at a far lower elevation than usual – suggesting
it might be spreading.
Bacteria that cause bubonic plague. The disease is spread by Xenopsylla cheopis fleas, whose main host is the black rat. Photograph: Rocky Mountain Laboratories/AP
Once feared as the Black Death – the
rodent-borne disease that wiped out a third of the world's population in
the Middle Ages – bubonic plague has killed 20 villagers in Madagascar in one of the worst outbreaks globally in recent years, health experts have confirmed.
The
confirmation that bubonic plague was responsible for the deaths last
week near the north-western town of Mandritsara follows a warning in
October from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that
the island nation was at risk of a plague epidemic.
The Pasteur
Institute of Madagascar revealed on Tuesday that tests taken from bodies
in the village last week showed that they had died of bubonic plague.
The institute added it was concerned the disease could spread to towns
and cities where living standards have declined since a coup in 2009.
The
deaths are doubly concerning because the outbreak occurred both outside
the island's normal plague season, which runs from July to October, and
apparently at a far lower elevation than usual – suggesting it might be
spreading.
Bubonic plague, which has disappeared from Europe and
large parts of the globe, is spread by bites from plague-carrying rat
fleas – Xenopsylla cheopis – whose main host is the black rat.
In Europe the threat of the Black Death pandemic, which appeared with
black rats brought by merchant ships from Asia, eventually died out as
black rats were displaced by brown rats and health and hygiene improved.
Last year about 60 people died of plague in Madagascar, the highest number globally.
