Abstract

A contaminated viral stock results in considerable loss of time, resources and financial means and is generally discovered only by chance after years of research. Thus, it is necessary to implement a technique that can detect contamination without prior knowledge or assumptions, such as next-generation sequencing (NGS). Here, we describe the discovery of a cross-contaminated viral stock from a biological repository of an African Zika virus isolate with Toscana virus after performing NGS on infected cells. In addition, we also describe the consequences that we faced using this contaminated stock. These included the economic and time loss to the lab that needed to repeat all previously performed experiments, the generation of biologically flawed results with a subsequent potential retraction and the severe risk of infection of lab members who manipulated the contaminated stock.

Received: 08/07/2024 Accepted: 05/11/2024 Published Online: 21/11/2024

Funding

This study was supported by the: Wellcome (Award Wellcome Trust Career Development Award [227788/Z/23/Z]) Principle Award Recipient: NereaIrigoyen Isaac Newton Trust (Award Isaac Newton Trust/Wellcome Trust ISSF/University of Cambridge Joint Research Grant) Principle Award Recipient: NereaIrigoyen Royal Society (Award RGS\R1\191137) Principle Award Recipient: NereaIrigoyen Isaac Newton Trust (Award 18.40r) Principle Award Recipient: NereaIrigoyen Wolfson College, University of Cambridge (Award Wofson-Pathology PhD studentship) Principle Award Recipient: NotApplicable

© 2024 The Authors

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2024-11-21

2024-12-17

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