WHO, US worry Ukrainian biological lab samples could spill, go to Russians

Enlarge / A health care worker carries test tubes while on duty in the bacteriological laboratory at the Lviv Regional Laboratory Centre of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service, Lviv, western Ukraine. (credit: Getty | Future Publishing)

The World Health Organization has advised officials in Ukraine to destroy any high-risk pathogens housed in public health laboratories in order to prevent their release amid the Russian onslaught, according to a report by Reuters.

The agency said that it has worked with Ukrainian officials for years to promote security practices at its laboratories to prevent "accidental or deliberate release of pathogens." As part of that longstanding work, "WHO has strongly recommended to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine and other responsible bodies to destroy high-threat pathogens to prevent any potential spills," the agency said in an email to Reuters. The WHO did not clarify when it made that recommendation or if it was carried out.

The news follows Senate testimony on Tuesday by Victoria Nuland, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, who said that the US is "quite concerned" that Russian troops will seek out Ukraine's biological research laboratories to seize control of any potentially dangerous samples.

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