Vials of virus missing, as breach at lab sparks investigation
By Matt Dennien
Health Minister Tim Nicholls has directed his department to investigate a historical breach of biosecurity measures at Queensland’s virology lab after vials of infectious diseases were unaccounted for.
Vials of live Hendra virus and hantavirus were discovered to be missing last August, which Nicholls described a “serious breach”, but chief health officer Dr John Gerrard said risk to the public was minimal.
“It is difficult to conceive of a scenario whereby the public could be at risk,” Gerrard said in a joint statement with Nicholls, noting there had been no cases of the viruses in humans in Queensland in at least five years – or ever for hantavirus in Australia.
Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls said Queensland Health advised him it had taken all necessary steps since only recently being made aware of the breaches.Credit: Matt Dennien
“It’s important to note that virus samples would degrade very rapidly outside a low-temperature freezer and become non-infectious.
“It’s most likely that the samples were destroyed by autoclaving [also known as steam sterilising] as is routine laboratory practice and not adequately recorded.
“It’s very unlikely that samples were discarded in general waste as this would be completely outside routine laboratory practice.”
Nicholls said Queensland Health advised him it had taken all necessary steps since only recently being made aware of the breaches, including notifying regulators, with the investigation the next step.
At a media conference on Monday, Gerrard said there was no clear record of the destruction of 323 missing samples including 98 samples of Hendra virus, two samples of hantavirus and 223 “fragments” of lyssavirus not believed to contain the live virus itself.
Nicholls noted the lab was formerly part of Forensic Sciences Queensland – under which the state’s DNA lab, recently subject to two highly critical inquiries, was also located.
He said the investigation of the virology lab would be led by retired Supreme Court Justice Martin Daubney AM KC and former Victorian infectious disease lab head Julian Druce.
The formal probe, known as a Part 9 investigation, will delve into storage and record-keeping at the lab as far back as 2015, when its accreditation was downgraded. A report is due by June 30 next year.
“When the Crisafulli government was elected, we made a commitment to openness and transparency, and that is what I am here today about … because in the course of the last two weeks, I’ve become aware of some failures at Queensland’s public health virology laboratory,” he said.
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