The Queensland government announced on Monday that hundreds of vials containing live viruses went missing from a laboratory in Australia.

"We've launched an investigation into the virology lab breach. There is no evidence of risk to the community from the 2021 breach, and our Government is working to make sure it doesn't happen again," Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls said.

The breach was discovered in August 2023, with nearly 100 of the missing vials containing Hendra virus, which is deadly. Two of the vials contained hantavirus, while 223 vials contained samples of lyssavirus.

Hendra virus was first discovered in the mid-1990s after infecting and killing several horses in Australia. Only a handful of humans have caught the disease after being infected by horses, but a large proportion of infected people died.

"Hendra virus has a 57 percent fatality rate in humans and has had a devastating impact on those who have been infected, their families and on the veterinary and equine industries in areas where the virus spills over," Raina Plowright, a professor at the department of public and ecosystem health at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, previously told Newsweek.

Hantavirus is carried by rodents and can cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which has a mortality rate of around 38 percent, while lyssavirus is similar to rabies and also has a very high mortality rate.