Russia - Explosion rips through lethal viruses laboratory - September 16, 2019

[sharon sanders]

FEDERAL BUDGETARY INSTITUTION OF SCIENCE
STATE SCIENTIFIC CENTER OF VIROLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY


September 16, 2019, Novosibirsk Region, RP Koltsovo, State Scientific Center ?Vector? There was an explosion of a gas cylinder with a fire (eliminated on an area of 30 m 2 ) on the 5th floor of a 6-storey reinforced concrete laboratory building in the sanitary inspection room being repaired. No work with biological material on the body was carried out. 1 person was injured, the building structure was not damaged.


http://www.vector.nsc.ru/news/568/

[sharon sanders]

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) in the US, the laboratory is one of two places on Earth that houses the smallpox virus. The other is in Atlanta, Georgia.
Smallpox is described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as "one of the world's most devastating diseases known to humanity", with the last case being reported in Somalia in 1977.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/17/...box=1568734346

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

The explosion rocked a smallpox laboratory in Russia

09/18/2019

ONE

A bit of background. Smallpox is an ancient deadly disease that killed about 300 million people in the 20th century alone. Officially, it ceased to exist not so long ago - in 1979, a year before that, smallpox took its last victim.

She became the Englishwoman Janet Parker, a medical photographer at the Birmingham School of Medicine, who worked near the smallpox laboratory, in one facility a floor above, and accidentally caught an infection .

How exactly the virus attacked the photographer remained unclear. Meanwhile, the head of the laboratory and the main smallpox fighter, Professor Henry Bedson, was horrified that he had missed the disease, which he had been struggling to eradicate for many years (and very successfully). Consumed by guilt and shame, 49-year-old Professor Bedson committed suicide by cutting his throat.

But in fact, the horrors that the professor imagined did not happen. Unprecedented measures were taken to prevent the spread of the virus and the disease receded. The only person infected from Janet was her mother, but she suffered a very mild illness and quickly recovered.

A government investigation did not reveal the way in which the deadly virus escaped to freedom. The case was closed, Bedson rehabilitated posthumously. And the ill-fated laboratory was disbanded. It was decided to destroy the remaining stocks of smallpox, and place the latest specimens in safer laboratories. One sample went to Russia, the other to the USA.

There they are to this day. In Russia, smallpox storehouse is Novosibirsk State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology " Vector ", a former Soviet laboratory of biological weapons during the Cold War, which also contained and investigated anthrax, Ebola and other terrible infection.

Although the safety at the research facility is high: there are reinforced concrete walls, high-tech fences and motion detectors, sometimes the human factor fails. Two scientists died accidentally contracting a deadly disease through an infected syringe.

And now in the research center there was an explosion. According to Radio Liberty, all the glass in the building is broken, but the Russian government claims that there is no biological hazard.

Presumably an explosion occurred during scheduled repairs. ?On the fifth floor of a six-story reinforced concrete laboratory building in a renovated sanitary control room, a gas cylinder exploded, followed by a fire,? the Vektor Center said in an official statement.

"At that time, no work with biological material was carried out, the building structures were not damaged." One person suffered - but not from viruses, but from fire. The victim is in the hospital, where he is being provided with medical care.

The laboratory emphasized once again that biohazard substances were not released from the facility and there is no threat to the general population. According to experts, the thawing of permafrost, which can restore smallpox from Siberian cemeteries to life, is much more alarming in this sense.

https://med.vesti.ru/novosti/obshhestvo-i-zakonodatelstvo/minzdrav-friziuma-hvatit-na-vseh/

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Russia: Should we worry after the explosion of a laboratory containing smallpox and Ebola?
...

Manon Aublanc
Posted on 18/09/19 at 18h53 - Updated on 18/09/19 at 18h53

An explosion and a fire hit Monday in Russia, a center for research on viruses and biotechnology, called "Vektor".

The building is one of only two structures in the world containing the smallpox virus.

The Russian authorities on Tuesday denied any threat of contamination, explaining that no dangerous substances were present in the parts that were affected by the accident.

Absolutely no danger according to Moscow. An explosion and a fire took place on Monday in Russia, at a research center on viruses and biotechnology, one of only two structures in the world containing the smallpox virus, officially eradicated in 1977.

If the authorities have denied on Tuesday, any threat of contamination, the incident occurred in a highly sensitive building worried. Is there a risk of virus leakage? 20 Minutes takes stock of this case.

What happened ?

On Monday, an explosion and a fire took place in "Vektor", a Russian research center in virology and biotechnology, located in Koltsovo, near Novosibirsk (Western Siberia), the third most populous city in Russia with more than 1, 5 million inhabitants. According to the health monitoring agency Rospotrebnadzor, the explosion was caused by a gas cylinder and caused a fire in the premises, injuring the employees. If several windows were broken, the structure of the building was not affected, added the authorities, noting that no dangerous substance had escaped.

What is this lab working on?

"Historically, it's a biological weapons laboratory that dates back to Soviet times. It is supposed to be closed and have been rehabilitated to do vaccine research, but we do not know much, "says Fr?d?ric Tangy, researcher and virologist at the CNRS and the Institut Pasteur. Becoming a Russian research center in virology, "this laboratory has been approved to be one of only two laboratories in the world, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta (USA), to hold the virus of smallpox, "says the researcher.

"It's complicated to say how this lab works today and to know exactly the nature of their activities. The only thing that is certain is the part dedicated to the smallpox virus, managed by the WHO, "explains Herv? Raoul, director of the P4 Inserm Jean M?rieux laboratory in Lyon. "The activities around smallpox are extremely framed within the framework of international agreements on this subject. This laboratory has a mission of archiving, there is no research strictly speaking. WHO continues to carry out control visits every year, "he adds. "In addition to smallpox, the laboratory holds especially Ebola, HIV or anthrax," says Fr?d?rique Tangy. Herv? Raoul, him, is "not sure that someone knows precisely the projects and the viruses on which the Russians work".

What are the potential dangers?

For Fr?d?ric Tangy, the danger "depends on the location of the fire": "If it explodes in a garage, there is no danger, but if it explodes next to a freezer that holds the smallpox virus it can contaminate the air. "The virus is kept at -80 degrees, so the tubes should be defrosted for contamination," he says.

"A fire that affects areas where the virus is present is almost good news, it will destroy pathogens. If it impacts an area where you have facilities dedicated to the safety of the laboratory, it can be more annoying, but it is not inevitably catastrophic, "says Herv? Raoul, who believes" that there is no risk major and that the chances of contamination are unlikely.

What will happen in case of contamination?

But if one of the sensitive sites was touched, the first precaution, "it is first to carry out a vaccination" ring, that is to say the people of the laboratory, then their relatives, the whole village , and finally the cities around, "says Frederic Tangy, adding that it is thanks to this method that smallpox was eradicated in 1977.

This is one of the dangers of the incident, according to the researcher: "The current world population is no longer vaccinated, because it is considered that the virus is completely eradicated. But if it comes back, the population is not protected. For the virologist, the only risk is that someone, who has been contaminated, takes the plane by being infected. "Nobody knows, no one checks because the virus is supposed to be eradicated. The person could then transmit the virus, which spreads very quickly. "

Is this an isolated incident?

The "Vektor" laboratory is not the only Russian sensitive site to have been the scene of an incident. In early June, three explosions in explosives factories and ammunition depots in central and southern Russia and Siberia caused dozens of injuries. In early July, 14 Russian Navy officers died in a fire aboard a mysterious nuclear-powered submarine in the Far North. Keeping much of the tragedy secret, the authorities assured that the nuclear reactor was not affected by the fire.

In August, a nuclear-related explosion killed at least five people on a missile base in the Far North when testing new weapons. It has led to a brief rise in radioactivity, according to the authorities. "In Russia, accidents are more and more common on sensitive sites. In this country, measures are not taken in the minute, infrastructures do not always work very well. For an accident to happen in a laboratory like this one, it means that it is badly managed and that there are big security flaws ", concludes Fr?d?ric Tangy.

https://www.20minutes.fr/monde/2607471-20190918-russie-faut-inquieter-apres-explosion-laboratoire-renfermant-variole-ebola