Missing virus vial raises concerns at UTMB facility
A vial containing a potentially harmful virus has gone missing from a laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, officials said.
The missing vial, which contains less than a quarter of a teaspoon of an infectious disease, had been stored in a locked freezer designed to handle biological material safely in the Galveston National Laboratory on UTMB's campus, officials said.
During a routine internal inspection last week, UTMB officials realized one vial of a virus called Guanarito was not accounted for at the facility.
Scott Weaver, the laboratory's scientific director, said Guanarito is an emerging disease that has caused deadly outbreaks in Venezuela.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Missing-virus-vial-raises-concerns-at-UTMB-4380346.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_hemorrhagic_fever