Labs Rush to Destroy High-Risk Flu Strain

Thousands of scientists were scrambling Tuesday at the urging of global health authorities to destroy vials of a pandemic flu strain sent to labs in 18 countries as part of routine testing.

The rush, urged by the World Health Organization, was sparked by the slight risk that the samples could spark a global epidemic. The vials of virus prepared by a U.S. company went to nearly 5,000 labs, mostly in the United States, officials said.

“The risk is relatively low that a lab worker will get sick, but a large number of labs got it, and if someone does get infected, the risk of severe illness is high, and this virus has shown [itself] to be fully transmissible,” said Klaus Stohr, head of WHO’s global influenza program.

It was not immediately clear why the strain from the 1957 pandemic, which killed at least 1 million people, was in the proficiency test kits.

Usually, the virus included in the kits is one that is circulating, or at least one that has recently been in circulation.

Most of the 3,747 flu samples were sent starting last year at the request of the College of American Pathologists, which helps labs conduct proficiency testing. The samples were prepared by Meridian Bioscience Inc. of Cincinnati.