A US government lab studying the world’s deadliest diseases been shut down over safety concerns after a spat between two scientists who were romantically involved.

Speaking anonymously, an HHS source revealed that one of the researchers poked a hole in the other’s protective equipment during a vicious ‘lovers’ spat’. 

Dr Connie Schmaljohn, the lab’s director, was also placed on administrative leave after she allegedly failed to report the incident to other officials. 

The taxpayer-funded Integrated Research Facility in Frederick, Maryland, works with lethal viruses like Ebola and lassa fever.

The shutdown was ordered after HHS officials became aware of the incident. Viruses have reportedly been locked away with padlocks while the facility and its staff are investigated.

HHS officials said: ‘NIH has implemented a research pause—referred to as a safety stand-down—at the Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick. 

‘This decision follows identification and documentation of personnel issues involving contract staff that compromised the facility’s safety culture, prompting this research pause.’

They added: ‘During the stand-down, no research will be conducted, and access will be limited to essential personnel only, to safeguard the facility and its resources.’ 

Scientists are pictured above in a BSL-4 lab at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, near to the Integrated Research Facility where one employee reportedly damaged another’s personal protective equipment 

An HHS source anonymously told Fox News that the shutdown was related to a lover’s spat.

The shutdown was ordered to start from 5pm on April 29, and to continue until officials were satisfied that the lab was safe.

The lab is one of only about a dozen BSL-4 labs in the US, or those with clearance to work on the most infectious and deadly pathogens known to man.

It employs about 168 people, including federal workers and contractors.

DailyMail.com has reached out to HHS for comment.

Staff were informed of the shutdown in an email sent by Michael Holbrook, the associate director for high containment at the facility — reported Wired.

‘We are collecting as many samples as is reasonable to ensure these studies are of value,’ he added in the email.

‘We have not been asked to euthanize any animals so these animals will continue to be managed.’

The lab was placed on a safety shutdown after officials became aware of the incident. It is set to reopen once they are satisfied that the lab is secure

Dr Connie Schmaljohn, the lab’s director, was also placed on administrative leave

There has been a renewed focus on lab safety in recent years, amid a growing consensus that Covid likely escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Both the FBI and CIA now believe with low to moderate certainty that it is more likely that the virus originated from the lab rather than in nature.

The lab is managed by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

It is near the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), which has raised several concerns previously over its management of potentially dangerous diseases.

In a previous incident in May 2018, anthrax may have been accidentally released from the boiler room at one of the labs in Fort Detrick, Maryland, and into a nearby river where people were planting lilypads.

The release was caused after tanks containing potentially pathogen-contaminated water overflowed due to heavy rainfall. 

No illneses were reported as a result of the potential release.