>I'm not sure it is 45 liters of polio virus. The expression used is "concentrated live polio virus solution".
AFAIK, polio-virus only exists/survives in solution/bodily fluids. So "45 liters of polio virus" would be sort of nonsensical if one interpreted it literally. Parsing the second part, the word "concentrated" also means that it wasn't simply some incidentally contaminated wash water or anything like that, but rather it was "concentrated polio virus solution".
>One could even parse that phrase as "a concentrated solution of the stuff we use to create polio vaccin; wasn't used yet, so it should not contain polio virus, but it was in our security zone, so we take this seriously."
Yes, one could parse the statement in a way most favorable to GSK (and to everyone's hopes), but that is not a prudent way to treat such accidents, especially if we have no evidence to support such a generous interpretation. Fortunately, the article links its source: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/commu...
>>On 6 September, the Belgium authorities informed the European Commission, the Netherlands, ECDC and WHO about an
incident that occurred on 2 September 2014. Following a human error, 45 litres of concentrated live polio virus solution were
released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Rixensart, Belgium.
The press release is very brief and concise. It leaves little room for linguistic gymnastics.
>I do not know how to interpret that number.
Here, I'll try. If you live downriver from the Belgian GSK plant, don't drink river water, or swim in the river. Also, confirm your polio vaccination status.
>>On [2 Sep 2014], following a human error, 45 litres of concentrated live polio virus solution were released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Rixensart city, Belgium. The estimated viral rejection of live virus Saukett (Salk) serotype 3 was of 10 to the 13th, cell culture infectious dose 50 percent (CCID 50). The liquid was conducted directly to a water-treatment plant (Rosieres) and released after treatment in river Lasne, affluent of river Dyle, which is affluent of the Escaut/Scheldt river.
So, one could also parse the information in a worst-case way, that is that the 45L of concentrated live poliovirus solution was released into a sewage treatment plant where they had a polio-party and subsequently became many hundreds of thousands of litres of poliovirus solution.
AFAIK, polio-virus only exists/survives in solution/bodily fluids. So "45 liters of polio virus" would be sort of nonsensical if one interpreted it literally. Parsing the second part, the word "concentrated" also means that it wasn't simply some incidentally contaminated wash water or anything like that, but rather it was "concentrated polio virus solution".
>One could even parse that phrase as "a concentrated solution of the stuff we use to create polio vaccin; wasn't used yet, so it should not contain polio virus, but it was in our security zone, so we take this seriously."
Yes, one could parse the statement in a way most favorable to GSK (and to everyone's hopes), but that is not a prudent way to treat such accidents, especially if we have no evidence to support such a generous interpretation. Fortunately, the article links its source: http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/commu...
>>On 6 September, the Belgium authorities informed the European Commission, the Netherlands, ECDC and WHO about an incident that occurred on 2 September 2014. Following a human error, 45 litres of concentrated live polio virus solution were released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Rixensart, Belgium.
The press release is very brief and concise. It leaves little room for linguistic gymnastics.
>I do not know how to interpret that number.
Here, I'll try. If you live downriver from the Belgian GSK plant, don't drink river water, or swim in the river. Also, confirm your polio vaccination status.
Or, look here (thanks to hga for the link): http://promedmail.org/direct.php?id=2771817
>>On [2 Sep 2014], following a human error, 45 litres of concentrated live polio virus solution were released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Rixensart city, Belgium. The estimated viral rejection of live virus Saukett (Salk) serotype 3 was of 10 to the 13th, cell culture infectious dose 50 percent (CCID 50). The liquid was conducted directly to a water-treatment plant (Rosieres) and released after treatment in river Lasne, affluent of river Dyle, which is affluent of the Escaut/Scheldt river.
So, one could also parse the information in a worst-case way, that is that the 45L of concentrated live poliovirus solution was released into a sewage treatment plant where they had a polio-party and subsequently became many hundreds of thousands of litres of poliovirus solution.