A lab leak occurs when a pathogen escapes from a laboratory setting into the wider community. Although the COVID-19 pandemic introduced many to the concept of a “lab leak,” it is still perceived as an extremely rare accident posing a unique threat. While this perception holds, history—though often under-discussed—tells a different story.
Case I: Anthrax
Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Though Robert Koch is credited with identifying the bacterium responsible, historians believe that the disease existed as far back as Roman and Greek civilizations. The bacterium infects both livestock and humans by forming spores that can survive in the environment for long periods, contributing to its persistence.
Louis Pasteur, a pioneer in vaccine development, created a vaccine against anthrax in the late 19th century. This groundbreaking achievement demonstrated the potential of vaccines to control infectious diseases.
- In the 20th century, anthrax gained notoriety as a potential biological weapon.
- Germany is believed to have used anthrax to infect livestock during World War I, although the impact on the military was minimal.
- Japan’s Unit 731 conducted extensive experiments on biological weapons, including anthrax, during its invasion of China in the 1930s. The death toll from these experiments is estimated to be over 300,000.
- In the 1940s, the British government tested anthrax as a bioweapon on Gruinard Island, off the coast of Scotland. They produced up to five million cattle feed containers with anthrax but did not deploy them. While Nazi Germany also researched anthrax, it was never used on a large scale.
- After World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union developed anthrax as part of their biological weapons programs. A significant lab leak occurred at a Soviet biological weapons facility, where aerosolized anthrax spores killed 66 people. This incident, initially covered up by Soviet authorities, was revealed years later in 1992 by Russian President Boris Yeltsin .
- In 2001, anthrax spores were mailed to various U.S. media and government offices shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Investigations concluded that the strain likely originated from a U.S. government lab, though the exact details remain debated.
- In June 2014, a lab leak occurred at the CDC in Atlanta when plates thought to be negative for anthrax were later found to contain live bacteria. Approximately 75 individuals were exposed and treated with antibiotics.
Case II: Influenza
Influenza in humans was a known disease even before 1918. However, it wasn’t until later that year that the disease was described in pigs. Similar to the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic (Influenza A H1N1), swine herds experienced respiratory illnesses resembling the flu. Interestingly, human adults over 12 years old were immune to the swine flu, suggesting that a similar virus had previously circulated among humans. This immunity might have been a result of the 1918 pandemic.
A study of samples from 17 countries between 1918 and 2006 found that the Human Influenza A (H1N1) did not acquire any new gene segments. However, studies have shown that different strains of the same virus can interact to create new reassorted subtypes with increased transmissibility. In 1947, the flu vaccine became ineffective against influenza. Intrasubtypic reassortment caused changes in the virus, making the disease more severe and rendering the seasonal vaccine useless.
In 1957, the Influenza A (H1N1) virus disappeared from humans, and a new reassortant virus emerged with genes from an avian virus. This new influenza A (H2N2) had few new segments from its avian source but was similar to the Influenza A (H1N1) of 1918. The new virus caused a pandemic in 1957. While the reasons for the disappearance of Influenza A (H1N1) are unclear, it is believed that societal immunity was sufficient to eradicate it.
In 1977, Influenza A (H1N1) reappeared in Northern China and the Soviet Union, sparking the Russian flu pandemic of 1977-78. The virus was almost identical to the 1950 strain, leading many scientists to believe it was stored and later released from a lab . Most research now points to this outbreak as a laboratory accident.
What’s interesting and requires attention is that both lab leaks (Anthrax and Influenza A H1N1) occurred during the Cold War era. An era in which the United States and the Soviet Union competed and indirectly attacked each other.
Case III: Smallpox
In 1978, the smallpox virus escaped from a lab at Birmingham University, UK, infecting a medical photographer who later died. This was the last recorded death due to smallpox .
Currently, two vials of the smallpox virus remain stored in high-security laboratories: one at the CDC in Atlanta, USA, and the other at the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology (VECTOR) in Russia. Despite discussions in 2011, the WHO reaffirmed in 2014 that these vials would be preserved for future research .
Case IV: SARS Coronavirus (SARS-CoV)
In 2002, a coronavirus that had spilled over from animals in southern China began infecting humans, causing the SARS epidemic. The virus, later identified as SARS-CoV, escaped laboratory settings in at least three incidents between 2003 and 2004 in Singapore, Taiwan, and China.
Case V: Foot and Mouth Disease
In 2007, a lab leak at a government research facility in Surrey, UK, led to an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease, infecting cattle and causing a temporary agricultural shutdown. The virus likely escaped through the drainage system of the Pirbright Institute .
Case VI: Melioidosis
In 2014, the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, which causes melioidosis, escaped from Tulane Primate Research Center in the United States. The leak, attributed to poor safety practices, led to the infection of several monkeys .
Case VII: Vector Institute Explosion
In 2019, an explosion occurred at Russia’s VECTOR Institute, a biological research lab housing dangerous viruses, including Ebola and smallpox. While officials stated that no pathogens were released, the incident raised alarms due to the lab’s work with highly dangerous pathogens .
Conclusions
Despite not being exhaustive, the cases above highlight that, since 2000, there have been at least two notable instances of lab leaks per decade. Although fewer incidents appear to be recorded between 1980 and 2000, this was a period of insufficient reporting and restricted transparency in certain nations, limiting the dissemination of such information.
The storage and study of pathogenic microorganisms have inevitably raised the risk of lab leaks. While this research is crucial for understanding the evolution of pathogens and developing vaccines, concerns remain. In 2014, epidemiologists at Yale raised alarms when gain-of-function experiments were conducted, introducing transmissibility of the avian virus H5N1 among ferrets.
H5N1, which typically infects birds, rarely spreads to humans. However, deliberately mutating the virus to make it transmissible among ferrets demonstrated that scientists were creating viruses with pandemic potential for study.
Epidemiologists have voiced concerns over the risks of such gain-of-function research. According to their estimates, if just 10 laboratories in the United States conducted gain-of-function research over a decade, there is a 20% chance of a lab worker becoming infected. They argue that these studies should be thoroughly evaluated for risk versus benefit before receiving funding.
Overall, the storage of pathogens became more common with the increasing desire to develop bioweapons. Today, especially after COVID-19, this practice may be expanding for business purposes, often under the pretext of advancing research on pandemic potential pathogens.
