Germ lab creating vaccines for deadly microbes shut down over safety concerns
Research at the US army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Maryland has been suspended after an inspection found the lab failed biosafety standards for handling dangerous germs.
A substandard waste water decontamination system was one of the failings, the Frederick News-Post local paper reported.
The institute studies germs and toxins that could pose a threat to public health and could even be used as weapons. It also studies disease outbreaks. Researchers at the institute worked on what the US government calls “select agents and toxins” which have “the potential to pose a severe threat to public, animal or plant health or to animal or plant products”.
Recent work is reported to have included a project to develop antibody-based treatments for four lethal viruses: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Andes virus, Sin Nombre virus and Puumala virus.
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