Latest news with #BSL-4
WIRED
30-04-2025
- Health
- WIRED
RFK Jr.'s HHS Orders Lab Studying Deadly Infectious Diseases to Stop Research
Apr 30, 2025 5:53 PM NIAID's Integrated Research Facility is one of the few federal facilities charged with studying Ebola. Tuesday afternoon, all of its work was put on indefinite pause by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s department. People work inside a bio-level 4 lab research at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, which has similar safety protocols as NIAID's Integrated Research Facility. Photograph: OLIVIER DOULIERY/GETTY IMAGES A research facility within the US National Institutes of Health that is tasked with studying Ebola and other deadly infectious diseases has been instructed by the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop research activities. According to an email viewed by WIRED, the Integrated Research Facility in Frederick, Maryland was told to stop all experimental work by April 29 at 5 pm. The facility is part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and is located at the US Army base Fort Detrick. It conducts research on the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases that are deemed 'high consequence'—those that pose significant risks to public health. It has 168 employees, including federal workers and contractors. The email, sent by Michael Holbrook, associate director for high containment at the Integrated Research Facility, says the lab is terminating studies on Lassa fever, SARS-Cov-2, and Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, a rare but lethal mosquito-borne disease that has been reported in several Northern US states. 'We are collecting as many samples as is reasonable to ensure these studies are of value,' he says in the email. 'We have not been asked to euthanize any animals so these animals will continue to be managed.' Holbrook did not respond to an inquiry from WIRED. The email says representatives from the Department of Homeland Security were padlocking freezers in BSL-4 labs, those with the highest level of biosafety containment used for studying highly dangerous microbes. Only about a dozen BSL-4 labs exist in North America. These labs work with the viruses that cause Ebola, Lassa fever, and Marburg, types of hemorrhagic fevers. The Integrated Research Facility is one of few places in the world that is able to perform medical imaging on animals infected with BSL-4 agents. 'The sacrifice to research is immense,' says Gigi Kwik Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, on the closure. 'If things are unused for a period of time, it will cost more money to get them ready to be used again.' The facility's director, Connie Schmaljohn, has also been placed on administrative leave, according to the email. Previously, Schmaljohn served as a senior research scientist at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. She has more than 200 research publications and her work has led to several clinical trials of first-of-their kind vaccines. Schmaljohn also did not respond to an inquiry from WIRED. In an emailed statement provided to WIRED, Bradley Moss, communication director for the office of research services at NIH, confirmed the halt in research activity. 'NIH has implemented a research pause—referred to as a safety stand-down—at the Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick. This decision follows identification and documentation of personnel issues involving contract staff that compromised the facility's safety culture, prompting this research pause. During the stand-down, no research will be conducted, and access will be limited to essential personnel only, to safeguard the facility and its resources.' Moss did not elaborate on the nature of the personnel issues, and said he did not know how long the research pause would last. Staff have not received an anticipated reopening date. The research pause is the latest disruption to federal science agencies after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced at the end of March that 10,000 people across the vast federal health agency would lose their jobs, including those at the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The mass layoffs are part of a restructuring plan being carried out by President Donald Trump's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Anti-China COVID lawsuit fails to get through Senate
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — State senators have deadlocked about whether to ask the South Dakota attorney general to file a lawsuit seeking $100 billion from the People's Republic of China for damages suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. House Concurrent Resolution 6009 claimed that the virus resulted from a genetic research project at the People's Liberation Army bioweapons BSL-4 laboratory in Wuhan, China. It called for establishing a South Dakota COVID-19 victims relief fund that would make up to $250,000 available for each impacted person. The resolution on a 40-28 vote cleared the South Dakota House. Republican Rep. Brandei Schaefbauer is prime sponsor. The Senate took it up Thursday. Republican Tom Pischke, the lead sponsor in the Senate, said he believes that China launched a viral attack on the world. Other states have brought lawsuits against China, according to Pischke, such as Missouri, which he said is seizing all China-owned assets there. The resolution also calls for the lawsuit to name as other defendants the Chinese Community Party and the Wuhan laboratory. 'China is just the beginning of this,' Pischke said. No other senator spoke after he finished. The vote ended in a 17-17 tie. Republican Amber Hulse passed the first time when the roll call reached her. She voted yes when her name was called a second time at the end. Mark Lapka meanwhile was excused. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, serving as Senate president, could have broken the tie. Instead, he declared that the measure failed. Pischke gave notice of his intent to reconsider the vote. But when the time came, he decided to not proceed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
South China Morning Post
08-02-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
In Japan, fears of ‘hellish pandemic' mount over virus lab in Nagasaki
An advanced laboratory at Japan 's Nagasaki University specialising in the study of the deadliest viruses known to man has triggered widespread safety concerns about the facility's security despite official assurances. Advertisement The Japanese ministry of health confirmed last month that the biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) laboratory at the university's Sakamoto campus has met the required standards for researching lethal haemorrhagic fever viruses such as Ebola, Marburg, Crimean-Congo, Lasa and South American. Scientists have started training at the laboratory. BSL-4 is the highest level of biosafety precautions such as for facilities designed to study agents for which there are no available treatments or vaccines. Equipment in a BSL-4 laboratory is designed to have no sharp edges that could snag a scientist's protective suit. Such a facility is equipped with systems to prevent agents from escaping into the surrounding environment and decontamination showers for personnel. Eiichiro Watanabe, a director of the BSL-4 liaison office, said every precaution had been taken to ensure the security of the facility and that discussions were ongoing with people living nearby. 'The facility is in the trial phase at the moment and no level-4 pathogens have been brought in yet,' Watanabe told This Week in Asia. 'We are currently carrying out training before we go into full operation.' Advertisement The university has been seeking approval to open the facility for 15 years, a delay that has led to other countries racing ahead of Japan to study pathogens and develop effective vaccines. At present, more than 20 countries operate about 60 BSL-4 facilities, many at universities.
