This is completely reassuring, we don’t have to worry. A vial containing a virus that causes haemorrhagic fever has gone missing from a research facility in Texas. OK, maybe we should worry.
The virus can only be transmitted through contact with rats from Venezuela. It –let’s cross our fingers now — “is not believed” to be able to be transmitted through other kinds of rats or through people.
It doesn’t look like any foul play was involved. The University of Texas Medical Branch, where the vial went missing, said that there wasn’t a breach in the security of its facilities. What officials suspect is that the vial may have been destroyed during the cleaning process. If you see a random vial lying on the street, don’t try to make purple drank out of it. For the rest of us. [CBS News]
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