Case number 16,816, is the assistant laboratory assistant’s name in a research report from the Central Epidemic Command Center in Taiwan. The young woman was bitten by a lab mouse on Nov. 19 while working in a high-security biological lab of the Genomic Research Center on the Academia Sinica university campus in Taipei. That animal was infected with the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
From a report in the newspaper Taiwan News about the laboratory accident, it appears that the incident was handled very carelessly. It appears to have ended with a sizzle.
Coughing worse and worse
For unclear reasons, the woman did not have herself tested for corona immediately after the bite incident. Nor did she when her coughing got worse on November 26. When she also developed smell and taste problems on December 8, she had herself tested. The next day came the result: positive!
The woman was fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine; So this was a breakthrough infection. Sequencing of the positive sample revealed that she was infected with the Delta variant of the virus. But it was genetically different from previous Delta infections among the Taiwanese population. That suggested she contracted the infection in the lab.
The investigation by the Central Epidemic Command Center that followed revealed some startling facts. The woman turned out to have worked with mice that were infected with the alpha variant of the virus. In the same lab, however, two other researchers worked with the Delta variant. A thorough inspection showed that samples from some tables, door handles and other surfaces were positive for SARS-CoV-2. No virus material was found outside the lab.
It also turned out that the woman had already been bitten by a laboratory mouse in mid-October. She had reported the incident to her boss, but he had not reported it further, which is against the safety rules.
Dismissal after criticism
What will not have helped was that Casus 16,816 had resigned on December 3, because of criticism she received about the quality of her work. In her contagious period the woman traveled by metro and bus through Taipei, regularly dined at various restaurants and visited many shops.
The number of close contacts of the woman that has been mapped increased to 453 last week.
With the exception of a few, who are still waiting for the results, these contacts have all been tested negative. Some have gone into quarantine on their own, but all have been requested by the health authorities to check themselves closely for possible symptoms of disease in the coming period. Nearly 700 people have been tested in the immediate vicinity of the lab on the university campus, all of them negative.
Taiwan has been able to keep corona under control from the start by strictly checking incoming travelers. It would be an embarrassment if the virus managed to cause an outbreak on the island through a lab.
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