EHI (Environmental Health Institute) was set up primarily to carry out research work on vector-borne infectious diseases including dengue and West Nile. During the SARS outbreak, it responded to the need of the research community by agreeing to cultivate live SARS virus to provide viral materials for the research and development of diagnostic kits.

The expert panel concluded that the patient most likely acquired the infection in the EHI laboratory as a result of inappropriate laboratory procedures and a cross contamination of West Nile Virus samples with SARS coronavirus.

Arising from this incident, EHI will cease all works requiring BSL3 bio-safety standards until it has addressed all the recommendations put forward by the expert panel. It will also take immediate steps to strengthen work practices and staff training so that it can resume BSL2 work on dengue as soon as possible. EHI will also be working closely with MOH to ensure that bio-safety standards in its laboratory are of international standards.

This has been a good learning experience for EHI, and we thank the expert panel for its valuable observations and recommendations.