Labs Rush to Destroy Flu Virus

Laboratories across the world are being advised to destroy panels designed for testing laboratory proficiency that inadvertently included the H2N2 virus associated with the Asian flu pandemic of 1957. The panels were sent to about 4,000 laboratories in 18 countries by the College of American Pathologists and three or four other organizations.

While there is some risk, the risk is very low, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA). The last known date when this particular strain was circulating was 1968, so anyone born after that date would presumably be susceptible. The CDC reports that it is not finding any H2N2 isolates in its collection of flu strains and has not seen any since 1967.

The laboratories receiving the test panels were to have handled them under safety level 2 precautions, in order to protect workers and prevent contamination. The best level of protection, however, for these kinds of novel viruses would be level 3. In the future, noted the CDC, it will urgently recommend that lab workers use that higher level of precaution for any novel flu virus. When a virus is used in a lab like this virus was, it often loses some of its infectivity, according to the CDC, so that it can no longer efficiently infect people. Therefore, it is possible that this strain poses a very, very low threat of transmission.

In the meantime, the CDC has advised the College of American Pathologists and the other organizations responsible for distributing the test panels to tell labs to destroy any virus that remains from that process, to completely autoclave it so that it is gone, and to do that immediately and then to report within 24 hours back that these steps have been taken. Labs involved are also being asked to monitor workers and if any has had exposure to the panels, to test them for influenza if they develop any symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland) has contacted the ministers of health in the other 17 countries to ensure that that these steps have been taken.

"We want to leave you with one very important message, and that is, while the risk of the situation is very low, we're not taking any chances and we are doing everything we can to make sure there's no threat to human health,” said Dr. Julia Gerberding, director of the CDC, at a news briefing.




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