Could the next pandemic come from within? America is suffering dozens of lab ... trends now
America suffers a 'startlingly high' number of lab leak incidents at its top virus labs every year, data shows — amid calls for centers to slash the number of experiments carried out on diseases that could spark pandemics.
Official data reveals more than 600 releases of 'controlled' pathogens - which may include anthrax, tuberculosis and Ebola - were recorded in the US over the eight years to 2022, equivalent to 70 to 100 releases every year.
At least two US workers were infected after the 'release events' over the last eight years — including the crippling mosquito-borne virus Chikungunya and the bacterial infection Q fever — although no deaths were reported.
Many of the incidents were caused by scientists spilling the contents of test tubes, not wearing safety equipment correctly and suffering bites and scratches from infected animals.
The above graph shows the number of lab leak incidents recorded in the US every year, where a disease was released outside of its primary containment
The above map shows the locations of BSL4 (blue dots) and BSL3 (red dots) labs in the United States. Many are located within urban centers
All ran the risk of diseases being accidentally released into the community where the pathogens could start the next pandemic.
In some cases, diseases were released from labs because of equipment failures or via poor practices, such as emptying blood from infected monkeys down plug holes.
Experts said the concerning figures, which were gathered by the Federal Select Agents Program (FSAP), were a warning of the dangers posed by experiments on these viruses.
It comes amid growing suspicion that the Covid pandemic was the result of a lab leak incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology which was known to be experimenting on coronaviruses at the time.
Dr Richard Ebright, a microbiologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said the data showed the 'startlingly high frequency' of lab accidents in the US.
He told DailyMail.com: 'It also shows the inadequacy of US-Government oversight of biosafety and the lack of public transparency.
'Will be eye-opening to anyone not in the field.'
Among labs to have recorded a lab leak incident over the last eight years was Fort Detrick in Maryland where anthrax may have escaped from the boiler rooms
There are concerns that deadly pathogens could escape from labs and spark a new pandemic
The top microbiologist also warned that these figures were likely an underestimate because labs testing other diseases - such as chickenpox - were not required to report any accidents at their facilities.
A spokeswoman for the Government Accountability Office in Washington D.C., which has been campaigning on this issue for years, warned safety lapses in laboratories 'continued to pose a serious threat to humans'.
She told DailyMail.com: 'We reported and testified before Congress in 2018 that safety lapses continue to occur at laboratories in the United States that conduct research on hazardous pathogens - such as the Ebola virus and the bacteria that causes anthrax.
'These pose a
