Are the vials half missing or half found? Actually, it's not 1/2 vs. 1/2, but rather something like 1/9 vs. 8/9, or perhaps about 20/4,700 vs. 4,680/4,700, but the principle is the same.
Here are some of the headlines under which this story is now running [via Google News]:
WHO Update: 90% H2N2 Influenza Virus Destroyed
Most of dangerous flu virus destroyed, officials say
Two-Thirds of Deadly Virus Destroyed
Two-Thirds of Lethal Asian Flu Virus Destroyed - WHO
WHO: All virus samples to be destroyed
No need for panic
Samples of pandemic flu virus sent to Lebanon, Mexico and Chile missing: WHO
Most of dangerous flu virus destroyed, officials say
Flu samples destroyed after epidemic fears
Labs race to destroy flu virus after test kit mistake
U.S. Health Experts Say Mistakenly Distributed Flu Virus Being Destroyed
Virus kit destruction makes progress
Flu Strain Almost Destroyed - WHO
Deadly flu samples sent out by mistake nearly all destroyedVials of deadly flu virus still missing, WHO says
2 killer flu virus samples still missing
Vials of deadly flu virus still missing, WHO says
Location of Flu Strain Samples Still Unknown
Samples of pandemic flu virus sent to Lebanon, Mexico and Chile missing: WHO
WHO: Virus Sent to Mexico, Lebanon Missing
Deadly virus samples unaccounted for
Deadly flu virus unaccounted for in Lebanon
Mexico: Deadly flu lost in the mail?
Deadly influenza virus shipments missing: WHO
WHO: Deadly Viruses Gone Missing
We're talking about vials of H2N2 flu virus, the strain involved in the 1957 pandemic, which were included in a shipment of materials sent out starting last October by an Ohio bioscience company as part of accreditation testing kit that labs use to demonstrate that they can correctly identify flu viruses. Under the instructions of the College of American Pathogists, which handles the accreditation, packages were apparently sent to 4,700 laboratories in 18 countries around the world. On March 26, a Canadian lab noticed that the testing kits included samples of the 1957 pandemic virus, which has not been seen in humans since 1968, and should not have been included. It's assumed that if this virus gets out, it will spread rapidly and kill many, since no one born since 1968 will have any resistance to it.
The Globe and Mail tells us that "three of the potentially deadly packages never reached their destinations and are still missing, a UN official says". Specially, "vials of H2N2 virus shipped to certain labs in Lebanon, Mexico and Chile could not be accounted for". (Chile is now accounted for). Other news reports suggest that it's not three packages that were missing, but rather all the packages sent to labs in three (now two) countries. According to Klaus Stohr of the World Health Organization, "the College of American Pathologists suggested it was possible the missing samples never were sent". Well, that's reassuring.
And so is this (not).
Posted by Mark Liberman at April 17, 2005 11:42 AM