Hundreds of Virus Samples—Some Deadly to Humans and Animals—Have Gone Missing From an Australian Lab

Hundreds of samples of viruses are reported to have gone missing from a laboratory in Queensland in 2021, according to the Australian Health Minister, including nearly 100 live samples of the deadly Hendra virus. Although there have been no reported instances of outbreaks of diseases that could be caused by the missing samples, it is unknown whether the viruses were destroyed or lost, prompting the Australian Government to launch an investigation into the matter.

On December 8, Australia’s Health Minister, Tim Nicholls, announced that 323 virus samples had gone missing from Public Health Virology Laboratory, a state-run facility, in 2021, after a freezer that the samples were stored in broke down. It wasn’t until August 2023 that it was discovered that the samples were missing, and the laboratory is unable to determine if they were removed or destroyed.

“It’s this part of the transfer of those materials that is causing concern,” Nicholls stated. “The materials may have been removed from that secure storage and lost, or otherwise unaccounted-for.”

Although most of the viruses involved are not a danger to human health, the breach does include samples of Hendra virus, hantavirus and rabies-causing lyssavirus amongst the unaccounted-for material. Thankfully, there have been no outbreaks of diseases that could be caused by these viruses since the breach occurred.

“No Hendra or lyssavirus cases have been detected among humans in Queensland over the past five years, and there has been no report of hantavirus infections in humans ever in Australia,” according to Chief Health Officer Dr. John Gerrard. He stated that while this breach in record keeping is serious, the risk to the community appears to be low; the last major Hendra outbreak occurred thirty years ago in Brisbane, killing 13 horses and their trainer.

“The systems and processes in laboratories handling such deadly pathogens are usually so robust and rigorous… these sort of things just can’t happen,” according to infectious diseases expert Dr. Paul Griffin. “So, it’s very disappointing to hear about the breach, especially to be finding out about it so far down the track.” Dr. Griffin went on to say that Virology Laboratory needs to “be on the front foot” and account for how the breach occurred.

“We need to make sure we can restore people’s faith in our laboratories that are doing such important work. We need to be confident they’re doing what we need them to do.”