A routine inventory at the Pasteur Institute in Paris showed the absence of 2349 vials of the SARS virus, the same virus that caused an epidemic in 11 countries 27 years ago and killed 775 people. Where did the samples go?
The vials may have been stolen, accidentally discarded, or simply “lost” in the laboratory. This is not known yet. The Pasteur Institute called upon ANSM (Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé), an agency primarily concerned with the safety assessment of medicines. However, a joint, multi-day search conducted from April 4 to 12 – did not bring any effect.
The management of the institute also reassures that “according to the available knowledge” the missing samples were too old to cause an epidemic.
Based on: The Local / RMF
Author Tomasz Kobosz