AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=FC1733116X&news_headline=lab_accident_sparks_bird_flu_outbreak_fear
Thursday, 18th January 2007, 07:27
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A lab accident has sparked fears that a modified bird flu virus could escape and possibly infect millions of people.
The near-miss happened last April at the University of Texas in and has only just been exposed - leading to calls for such incidents to be more widely publicised.
A researcher put tubes into a centrifuge - a spinning device that sorts particles - to separate the contents which included a human flu virus altered to carry a gene from H5N1 bird flu.
But the machine became unbalanced and stopped and when the researcher opened it he found the lid of a safety cup holding one of the tubes had fallen off.
Fearing the tube inside had leaked the researcher disinfected everything and called the lab's safety officers, reports New Scientist.
He was wearing a protective hood and respirator, and the whole room was at negative pressure to prevent leaks to the outside.
But the researcher had opened the centrifuge and removed the samples without waiting the recommended 30 minutes to allow any virus-laden aerosol to settle.
In fact, the tube was intact. But if aerosol had escaped, the consequences could have been serious, since the virus would have been able to infect humans with unknown effects.
Experiments since the accident show the virus replicates more slowly in the lab than human flu, said microbiologist Dr Bob Krug, head of the Austin lab.
But its behaviour in people might be different, and an escapee could also share its new gene with other flu viruses.
Such research has been criticised for creating unpredictable viruses that may never emerge naturally.
"The University of Texas dodged a bullet," said Ed Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, an Austin-based
pressure group.
He said the incident only came to light because he demanded to see the university safety committee's records. The
committee was not unduly secretive and plans to publish its minutes.
But Mr Hammond says more government oversight and public disclosure is needed from labs handling dangerous microbes
.
Thursday, 18th January 2007, 07:27
<HR align=left color=#000000 SIZE=1>
A lab accident has sparked fears that a modified bird flu virus could escape and possibly infect millions of people.
The near-miss happened last April at the University of Texas in and has only just been exposed - leading to calls for such incidents to be more widely publicised.
A researcher put tubes into a centrifuge - a spinning device that sorts particles - to separate the contents which included a human flu virus altered to carry a gene from H5N1 bird flu.
But the machine became unbalanced and stopped and when the researcher opened it he found the lid of a safety cup holding one of the tubes had fallen off.
Fearing the tube inside had leaked the researcher disinfected everything and called the lab's safety officers, reports New Scientist.
He was wearing a protective hood and respirator, and the whole room was at negative pressure to prevent leaks to the outside.
But the researcher had opened the centrifuge and removed the samples without waiting the recommended 30 minutes to allow any virus-laden aerosol to settle.
In fact, the tube was intact. But if aerosol had escaped, the consequences could have been serious, since the virus would have been able to infect humans with unknown effects.
Experiments since the accident show the virus replicates more slowly in the lab than human flu, said microbiologist Dr Bob Krug, head of the Austin lab.
But its behaviour in people might be different, and an escapee could also share its new gene with other flu viruses.
Such research has been criticised for creating unpredictable viruses that may never emerge naturally.
"The University of Texas dodged a bullet," said Ed Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, an Austin-based
pressure group.
He said the incident only came to light because he demanded to see the university safety committee's records. The
committee was not unduly secretive and plans to publish its minutes.
But Mr Hammond says more government oversight and public disclosure is needed from labs handling dangerous microbes
.
Taubenberger...yes