It’s unclear which fighters have control of a bio-lab, the National Public Health Lab, in Khartoum, Sudan, or why they seized it. The lab stores polio, TB, measles, cholera, and other disorders. The lab works with the WHO, which gets most of its funding from the US. The question now is, do they engage in gain-of-function research? It’s not classified as a high-containment facility.
Fillipa Lentzos, Associate Professor in Science and International Security at King’s College London, said: “It could create a risky situation, but it’s a regular health lab, not a high containment facility, reports the BBC.
“The agents which are in the lab are all diseases which are endemic in the region anyway, so they wouldn’t really be classified as high risk,” she told the BBC.
Still, fighters with measles, TB, and polio germ bombs is very concerning.
We now know the lab was intentionally seized:
The Bio lab was intentionally attacked in Sudan… pic.twitter.com/sG09uACfQR
— Yumiko (@Hplc23) April 26, 2023
THE LAB WAS SEIZED ON THE 25TH
The WHO warned that fighters seized the lab. The WHO also warned that the situation could spark a “high risk of biological hazard.”
Hostilities between the Sudanese armed forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries began on April 15, reportedly leaving at least 459 people dead and another 4,072 wounded.
Speaking to news outlets, Nima Saeed Abid, the WHO’s representative in the country, said that lab technicians had been unable to access the National Public Health Laboratory after it was seized by fighters whose allegiance he didn’t disclose.
Abid described the development to CNN as “extremely dangerous because we have polio isolates in the lab, we have measles isolates in the lab, we have cholera isolates in the lab.”
The WHO said that a range of pathogens are stored at the facility, including measles and cholera, as well as other hazardous materials.
Energy cuts also risked spoiling blood bags kept at the lab, it said, according to Reuters.
Barrons adds:
The UN health agency also said there had been 14 attacks on healthcare facilities or personnel during the fighting, leaving eight healthcare workers dead and two injured.
And it warned that “depleting stocks of blood bags risk spoiling due to lack of power.”
“In addition to chemical hazards, bio-risk hazards are also very high due to lack of functioning generators,” Abid said.
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