Health
Deadly virus samples went missing from lab in ‘major biosecurity breach,’ say authorities
Hundreds of deadly virus samples are missing from a laboratory in Australia, the Queensland government announced on Monday.
The government has instructed Queensland Health — Australia’s public health department — to launch an investigation into what’s being described as a “major historical breach of biosecurity protocols,” according to the online media statement.
It was reported that 323 vials of multiple infectious viruses — including Hendra virus, Lyssavirus and Hantavirus — went missing from Queensland’s Public Health Virology Laboratory in August 2023.
‘DISEASE X’ HAS KILLED DOZENS IN THE CONGO — HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE MYSTERY ILLNESS
Hendra is a zoonotic (animal-to-human) virus that has only been found in Australia.
Hantavirus is a family of viruses that can lead to serious illness and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while Lyssavirus is a group of viruses that can cause rabies.
Hundreds of deadly virus samples are missing from a laboratory in Australia, the Queensland government announced. (iStock)
The lab where the samples went missing provides “diagnostic services, surveillance and research for viruses and mosquito and tick-borne pathogens of medical importance,” the release stated.
It is not known whether the infectious samples were stolen or destroyed, the statement said, and there is “no evidence of risk to the community.”
The government has launched a “Part 9 investigation.”
DEADLY OUTBREAK OF MARBURG, OR ‘BLEEDING EYE VIRUS,’ LEADS TO TRAVEL ADVISORY
“With such a serious breach of biosecurity protocols and infectious virus samples potentially missing, Queensland Health must investigate what occurred and how to prevent it from happening again,” Minister Timothy Nicholls said in the release.
“The Part 9 investigation will ensure nothing has been overlooked in responding to this incident and examine the current policies and procedures in operation today at the laboratory.”
“This investigation will also consider regulatory compliance and staff conduct.”
The Lyssavirus family contains the rabies virus, which is almost universally fatal in humans if they do not receive treatment in time. (iStock)
Nicholls added that Queensland Health has taken “proactive measures,” including retraining staff on required regulations and conducting audits to ensure correct storage of materials.
Sam Scarpino, PhD, director of AI and life sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, confirmed that the situation in Australia amounts to a “critical biosecurity lapse.”
“Given the limited ability for any of these pathogens to transmit from person to person, the risk of an epidemic is very low.”
“The pathogens reported missing are all high-consequence and could pose a threat to the public,” he told Fox News Digital.
The three pathogens can have very high fatality rates in humans, Scarpino said, but they do not transmit readily from person to person.
Hendra is a zoonotic (animal-to-human) virus that has only been found in Australia. (iStock)
“Some hantaviruses have case fatality rates of up to 15%, or over 100 times more lethal than COVID-19, while others are more similar to COVID-19 in terms of severity,” he said.
There is also a high risk to animals and livestock from all three pathogens, he added.
FIRST KNOWN CASE OF RARE MPOX STRAIN CONFIRMED IN UNITED STATES
The Lyssavirus family contains the rabies virus, which is almost universally fatal in humans if they do not receive treatment in time, the expert noted.
“Given the limited ability for any of these pathogens to transmit from person to person, the risk of an epidemic is very low,” Scarpino said.
“It’s clear that we need quite a bit more investment and transparency related to pathogen biosecurity,” one expert said. (iStock)
“However, Hendra virus — along with certain members of the Hantavirus and Lyssavirus family — can be very severe in humans and animals.”
Chief Health Officer Dr. John Gerrard reiterated in the media statement that there is no evidence of public risk.
“It’s important to note that virus samples would degrade very rapidly outside a low temperature freezer and become non-infectious,” he said.
“It’s very unlikely that samples were discarded in general waste, as this would be completely outside routine laboratory practice.”
Hantavirus is a family of viruses that can lead to serious illness and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (iStock)
There have been no human cases of Hendra or Lyssavirus in Queensland over the past five years, Gerrard noted, and no confirmed Hantavirus infections “ever in Australia.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
Despite the low risk, Scarpino said, “It’s important to understand where these samples ended up, to confirm that there is no longer a risk of exposure.”
“While I applaud the Australian government for taking this seriously, it’s unacceptable that it took over a year for news of the breach to be made public.”
“The pathogens reported missing are all high-consequence.”
There have been similarly high-profile biosecurity lapses in the U.S., Scarpino noted.
“It’s clear that we need quite a bit more investment and transparency related to pathogen biosecurity,” he added.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
Fox News Digital reached out to the Queensland government requesting further comment.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE GETTING YOUR FLU SHOT, ACCORDING TO DOCTORS
Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
HOW LONG YOU’RE CONTAGIOUS WITH THE FLU — AND WHEN IT’S SAFE TO GO OUT
The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
RESEARCHERS LOCKED FLU PATIENTS IN A HOTEL WITH HEALTHY ADULTS — NO ONE GOT SICK
The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
FREQUENT HEARTBURN MAY BE A WARNING SIGN OF A MORE DANGEROUS CONDITION, DOCTOR SAYS
The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
BACTERIA IN YOUR MOUTH MAY TRAVEL TO THE GUT AND TRIGGER STOMACH CANCER, RESEARCH FINDS
After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES
These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER
However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
-
San Francisco, CA7 minutes agoHow to watch San Francisco Giants vs. Milwaukee Brewers
-
Dallas, TX14 minutes ago3 different Cowboys 53-man roster projections pinpoint contested roster spots
-
Miami, FL17 minutes agoJeff Hafley suggests Miami Dolphins entertain Malik Willis Tush Push
-
Boston, MA22 minutes agoKaren Read sues the police agencies that investigated her Boston police boyfriend’s death
-
Denver, CO29 minutes agoPedestrian dies after hit by car on southbound E-470, Aurora police say
-
Seattle, WA32 minutes agoSeattle paying $2.6M to settle sexual harassment lawsuit filed by four female SPD officers – MyNorthwest.com
-
San Diego, CA37 minutes agoPublisher’s Note: Restaurants Are People, June 2026 | San Diego Magazine
-
Milwaukee, WI44 minutes agoMilwaukee With Kids weekend guide: Play, paint and paddle
