Healthcare

NIH Researchers Allegedly Smuggled Monkeypox Into America, Lied About It

lab work photo: Wikimedia Commons/Marta D https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Behind_the_lab_work.jpg

Federal authorities accused two U.S.-funded researchers of smuggling the monkeypox virus into the country in a newly unsealed complaint.

Drs. Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe arrived from the Republic of the Congo to Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan with a case containing tubes of the disease — and lied about it to federal agents, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged in the Friday filing. The two arrestees worked for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), specifically the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, their professional profiles show.

“This matter is currently under investigation, and NIH is cooperating fully with law enforcement and appropriate authorities,” the NIH told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Upon notification, NIH leadership immediately activated established agency protocols to safeguard related laboratory facilities, research materials, and biological samples,” the agency said.

Court records do not list an attorney for the defendants.

Border security agents questioned Munster and Kwe in January at the airport about a large black plastic case they carried, according to the DOJ. The scientists falsely said the case contained “diagnostics” and “testing equipment,” the DOJ alleged.

Agents asked Munster to provide proper documents for the luggage, the DOJ said. “You won’t need them. I do this all the time,” Munster allegedly replied.

Inside the case were actually 113 tubes, with at least 13 containing “deactivated” monkeypox samples that require approval to transport safely, the complaint says. FBI laboratory staff had only tested 20 of the vials by the time the complaint was filed.

The monkeypox strain the researchers were studying “was considered a moderate concern for outbreak in the United States, and this version of the virus differed from the one that caused localized outbreaks in the United States in 2022,” the complaint says. The disease can cause ailments such as a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fevers and can be fatal in some cases.

Monkeypox spreads from human-to-human and animal-to-human contact and has primarily affected “men who have sex with men” since its 2022 global outbreak, according to the World Health Organization.

“Any deliberate effort to conceal and smuggle biological materials into the United States without proper authorization is a breach of the public’s trust and could have placed the public at risk,” Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agent Marcus Sykes said in a Tuesday statement.

“NIH is committed to maintaining the highest standards of biosafety, biosecurity, and stewardship of research materials,” the agency told the DCNF. “NIH leadership continues to prioritize biosafety across the agency and to promote a strong culture of accountability, compliance, and responsible scientific research throughout the biomedical research enterprise.”