Re: NZ imports H5N1 virus
Here is the whole article.
Scientists import bird flu
16 June 2006
By MARTIN KAY
Biosecurity chiefs have imported the deadly strain of bird flu and are keeping it under "Fort Knox-style" security.
Biosecurity Minister Jim Anderton told MPs yesterday that samples of the H5N1 virus were imported to allow scientists to identify quickly whether suspected cases were real.
There was little chance the virus could escape or be stolen. "You'd have to take a nuclear bomb to the place ... I've been out to inspect it, it's sort of Fort Knox squared and then cubed."
The samples, brought in at the end of April, are kept at the Investigation and Diagnostic Centre in Wallaceville, Upper Hutt. Animal health laboratory manager Joseph O'Keefe said about a teaspoon of the virus was held in liquid form in vials, under strict controls.
The laboratory was run at negative pressure, with air passed through a filter that removed viruses and bacteria. Staff wore special clothing and showered when leaving the lab.
"It's the highest-security containment laboratory of its type in the country. The virus is held in a very-low-temperature freezer. So it's in a vial, in a box, in a freezer, inside a containment laboratory."
The samples were being used to test whether H5N1 was present in New Zealand ducks, geese and other waterfowl.
Avian influenza cannot be transmitted between humans and it is most likely any outbreak in New Zealand would begin in waterfowl, described by the World Health Organisation as the "natural reservoir" for the disease.
Dr O'Keefe said it was expected the samples already in New Zealand would be grown in small quantities to allow continuing tests. More could be imported if new strains emerged.
Mr Anderton told Parliament's primary production select committee that the samples helped make New Zealand self-sufficient, as it might not be possible to rely on testing in other countries if they also had suspected cases.
"There are always difficult decisions to make. Some people would say: 'Why the hell have you brought this in here?' Well, we've brought it in so that we know exactly what we've got, when we've got it, quickly."
