Queensland DNA lab secretive testing and research of deadly viruses takes place but today a very public admission.
DNA Lab Samples of Missing Deadly Viruses
Dr John Gerrad CHO: There is not a clear record of the destruction of 323 samples that cannot be located.
Tim Nicholls Health Minister: So i’m announcing an investigation into the record-keeping breaches discovered at Queensland health‘s public health virology DNA lab deadly viruses.
Queensland DNA lab Records Blunder and List of Missing Deadly Viruses
The blunder relates to a locked freezer storing 93 live samples of Hendravirus, 2 live samples of Hantravirus, and 223 non-live fragments of Lyssavirus. The freezer broke in 2021 and the materials were transferred. They fumbled the paperwork and nobody knows where the missing deadly viruses went.
Dr John Gerrad CHO: It is a significant breach of protocol, but I do not believe there is a risk to the public.
Second DNA Lab Record Blunder
Missing samples of the deadly viruses were only realized during a change in management in August last year, now Queensland‘s second DNA lab failure after 40,000 criminal cases were impacted by flaws in the state’s DNA lab.
Queensland CHO and Health Minister Excuses on Record Keeping
Dr John Gerrad CHO: This was brought to my attention just a few weeks ago.
Tim Nicholls Health Minister: We’ve seen it happen with the DNA lab. We’ve now seen another failure of record-keeping and administration.
Likely Scenario of Missing Deadly Viruses
The Chief Health Minister believes the most likely scenario is that the samples of the missing deadly viruses were destroyed by autoclaving. or high pressure steam. He says it’s highly unlikely the samples were thrown into general waste.
