HHS Officially Suspends Research at NIH High-Security Pathogen Lab

HHS Officially Suspends Research at NIH High-Security Pathogen Lab

Last week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ordered the immediate suspension of all research activities at the Integrated Research Facility (IRF) at Fort Detrick, Maryland,  a key federal lab specializing in the study of deadly infectious diseases such as Ebola, Lassa fever, and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for the covid pandemic_.

The IRF, part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is one of only a handful of high-security biosafety-level-4 (BSL-4) labs in North America capable of handling and imaging the world’s most dangerous pathogens.

The official reason given is “safety concerns”. The less official reason comes from an anonymous tip.

According to the HHS official who was willing to speak on the matter under the condition of anonymity, the pause stemmed from a lover’s spat between researchers at the facility, which resulted in one of the individuals poking holes in the other’s personal protective equipment (PPE). That individual has since been fired, the official indicated.

The HHS official added that the incident is just the latest example of safety incidents at the high-risk laboratory, which they blamed on a poor safety culture at the lab enabled by the previous Biden administration.

“NIH and HHS take the safety of our facilities and research very seriously,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said. “As soon as we found out about this incident, we took immediate action to issue the safety pause until we can correct the safety culture at this facility.”

When a dangerous situation occurred at our Fort Detrick Integrated Research Facility, HHS and @NIH took swift and decisive action. Work will continue at the IRF as soon as the safety of our team is assured.

Read more: https://t.co/zcag8NmXWw pic.twitter.com/PMkGqIMZEA

— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) May 1, 2025

Freezers have been padlocked, and one administrator has been placed on administrative leave.

The email, sent by Michael Holbrook, associate director for high containment at the Integrated Research Facility, says the lab is terminating studies on Lassa fever, SARS-Cov-2, and Eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, a rare but lethal mosquito-borne disease that has been reported in several northern US states. “We are collecting as many samples as is reasonable to ensure these studies are of value,” he says in the email. “We have not been asked to euthanize any animals so these animals will continue to be managed.” Holbrook did not respond to an inquiry from WIRED.

The email says representatives from the Department of Homeland Security were padlocking freezers in biosafety-level-4 labs, those with the highest level of biosafety containment used for studying highly dangerous microbes….

…The facility’s director, Connie Schmaljohn, has also been placed on administrative leave, according to the email. Previously, Schmaljohn served as a senior research scientist at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. She has more than 200 research publications, and her work has led to several clinical trials of first-of-their-kind vaccines. Schmaljohn also did not respond to an inquiry from WIRED.

Local officials are concerned about the possible consequences of this shutdown on the community.

In a joint statement on Friday, Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor and the Frederick City Council said they were “deeply troubled by the sudden cessation of operations” at the facility, which they called “a vital asset in global infectious disease research and a cornerstone of our local economy.”

Due to the work stoppage, the city officials wrote, the livelihoods of 168 people who work at IRF-Frederick “are now uncertain.”

Their statement continued:

“Halting research on high-consequence pathogens like Ebola and Lassa fever undermines decades of scientific progress and preparedness. This facility is one of the few in the world equipped to safely study these threats, and its closure represents a setback for both national and global public health.

“Equally troubling is the absence of communication with local leadership and stakeholders from the federal government. Unilateral decisions of this magnitude erode trust and hinder our ability to support our constituents effectively during times of uncertainty.

If the “lovers’ spat” incident is any indication, there is room for significant improvement in the safety culture of this facility.

If the reports are correct, and this is the type of antic that went on at the IRF, then halting operations was the right move.

It takes little imagination to envision a punctured biosafety suit infecting an operator with something transmissible to others.

Such an event could impact the “local community” more than a few lost jobs. And, as we observed with Wuhan, it could impact both the nation and the global community.

It seems to me our HHS Secretary is taking biosafety more seriously than the “experts”.

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