Nov 17 (Japan Times) - A Japanese national research institute said Thursday it will import strains of Ebola and four other deadly viruses to improve detection processes amid a rise in the number of foreign visitors to the country.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases plans to bring the pathogens to a facility in the western suburbs of Tokyo ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but will not push forward without local support, a health ministry official said.
The viruses to be imported are those that cause five types of hemorrhagic fever — Ebola, Crimean-Congo, South American, Lassa and Marburg.
The pathogens do not exist in Japan and have never been deliberately brought into the country.
According to the institute, having access to the pathogens would not only increase the speed and accuracy with which it could identify an infected person, but would also give it the ability to conduct tests to assess a patient’s recovery.
The pathogens would be kept at the institute’s laboratory in the city of Musashimurayama, western Tokyo. The lab is currently the only one in Japan classified as having the maximum biosafety level of BSL-4.
Source: ANNnewsCH
