April 13, 2005
State Laboratory Destroys Flu Virus Strain
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services has destroyed a single sample of an influenza virus strain that its laboratory received by mistake earlier this year, state health officials said Wednesday.
The lab received the A/H2N2 flu virus strain in February as part of routine proficiency testing that the lab undergoes several times a year, according to Anne Weber, acting chief of the state Laboratory Services Bureau of DPHHS. The state lab was one of thousands of labs around the world to get the virus in a test kit from one of four independent private organizations. The kits are used to double-check a lab’s testing methods.
Health officials are concerned about the A/H2N2 virus because it has not circulated among the public since 1967. Anyone born after 1968 would have limited immunity against it. The virus was responsible for the so-called Asian flu outbreak of 1957, which killed more than 1 million people worldwide.
“We have strict protocols in our lab that are aimed at containing viruses,” Weber said. “The incubation period for this virus is pretty short. We received it in February, so if a lab worker was exposed to it, we’d know by now.”
Weber said it’s possible a “handful” of other private hospital or physician labs that do virology testing in Montana may also have received the virus.
All labs that got the samples have been instructed to destroy them and report to the private providers in writing within 24 hours that they have done so. The providers will forward those confirmations to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
“We will be in contact with the CDC to ensure that no samples remain in Montana,” Weber said.
Jim Murphy, surveillance officer with DPHHS, noted that the flu season in Montana is winding down, and the state has received no reports of A/H2N2 virus infections. The World Health Organization has reported that no cases of the virus have been identified that can be attributed to the mishap.
Page last updated: 06/14/2006
