French Laboratory Loses Over 2,000 SARS Virus Vials

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was first identified in 2003 when an outbreak occurred in China and spread to four continents, killing nearly 800 people. The Pasteur Institute in Paris reported they lost over 2,000 SARS vials last week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SARS is considered a "select agent," meaning it is threatening to human, animal, and plant health. The lost vials are only fragments of the SARS virus, which are not particularly dangerous, but it puts the laboratory's procedures in question.

However, many throughout the world might not think differently of the Pasteur Institute in Paris. It was created in 1887 and for the past 120 years its researchers have provided diligent work toward the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases through teaching and public health initiatives.

Named after the famous French chemist and microbiologist, Louis Pasteur, the Paris laboratory contacted France's National Security Agency of Medicines and Health Products to conduct an investigation on April 8 after they realized the vials were missing. The virus is extremely contagious, and it proved so when researchers began acquiring the illness as they were studying it.

"It reminds us that each and every lab must have rigorous safety procedures," Dr. William Schaffner said in this ABC News article. "People must be trained, and there has to be good supervision."

Dr. Schaffner is a former president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. He insisted that the missing vials weren't such a big concern because they did not contain the complete SARS virus, but he is concerned about procedural requirements for laboratories and how such a disastrous event could occur with only a small lapse in assignment.

In March of 2013, a Texas biolab lost five vials of a deadly Venezuelan virus four days before its annual inspection by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such events can pose a threat to public health if the vials were stolen or misplaced and made their way out to the public.

Dr. Schaffner says that the best case scenario is that the vials at the Pasteur Institute were incinerated and destroyed and the worst case scenario is that we will never know what happened to them. Whatever the case, the investigation of the missing SARS virus fragments will be ongoing until officials can find answers.

To read more about SARS and the missing vials, visit this ABC News article.