NIH Virologists Face Conspiracy Charge Over Alleged Monkeypox Shipment

Two NIH scientists, Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe, are charged with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox (mpox) into the United States after returning from Congo with undeclared tubes that later tested positive for mpox DNA; prosecutors say Munster misled border officers by claiming the case contained diagnostics gear, while experts note the inactivated samples could be diagnostic controls, and the case highlights biosafety and border-enforcement tensions in outbreak research.