VATIS UPDATE Article

Republic of Korea is close to opening its first laboratory fully equipped for experiments with the deadliest of human viruses, such as Ebola. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the country’s first biosafety level 4 (BL-4) lab is ready to open in Osong, in North Chungcheong Province. In the envisioned lab, experiments on about 20 of the most deadly kinds of human viruses, including Ebola and Lassa fever, will be carried out.

Scientists still do not know much about how these diseases spread and have so far failed to develop vaccines. The risk group 4 viruses can kill up to 90 percent of those who contract them and can be passed along by close contact with bodily fluids, perhaps even by a sneeze. According to KCDC, only a handful of doctorate-level scientists, who are trained at BL-4 laboratories in other countries, will have access to the lab to conduct tests.

Cocooned within a submarine-like airtight facility, each room inside the laboratory is equipped with state-of-the art air and sound pressure infrastructure to prevent the spread of virus. Currently, Republic of Korea only operates BL-3 labs that handle pathogens in risk group 3, which usually cause serious human or animal disease but do not easily spread by casual contact.