Ebola infected monkey bites lab worker: Trump supporters demand probe amid allegations of 'plot to unleash new virus'

A monkey infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a strain of Ebola, bit a worker at the Rocky Mountain Lab, a government research laboratory focusing on infectious diseases. The incident has sparked concerns among Montana Republicans, who are now calling for a probe. Senator Tim Sheehy has called for Montana's Inspector General to probe the matter, while MAGA influencer Laura Loomer has alleged that it was an attempt to "destroy President Trump's legacy." The incident happened in November 2025, and the employee who was bitten by the monkey has never been identified. He is said to have been treated, after which he was in good health and returned to work. Loomer and a conservative animal-welfare group, White Coat Waste, have also raised suspicions about one of the lab's employees.

Loomer wrote on X that Vincent Munster, Chief of the Virus Ecology Unit at the lab, was behind the incident and smuggled "these pathogens into America". She added, "Was this radical anti-Trumper plotting to unleash a new virus in America to sabotage the legacy of President Donald Trump?"

Review of Montana lab’s safety procedures

Sheehy shared her post and said, "If they are accurate, this is a massive breach of trust with the people of Montana", promising an investigation. He wrote a letter to the Health and Human Services Department Inspector General, March Bell, asking for a review of the lab’s safety procedures. Sheehy said on X, "We don't want Montana to be the next Wuhan", referring to claims that COVID-19 started from a virology lab in China.

Also Read: WHO chief says 'Ebola can be stopped' as death toll crosses 200 in DR Congo

At a meeting of the liaison group, the lab’s associate director for scientific management, Marshall Bloom, said, “The person that was exposed to that never developed any signs or symptoms, was completely well, and has been back at work for, oh gosh, months and months and months," a local paper, Ravalli Republic, reported.

Republican alleges lapses in lab management

The Rocky Mountain Laboratories works to gain more knowledge on diseases through procedures following the government’s highest biosafety level. Scientists at the lab have made breakthrough advancements in Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme, and Ebola, among others. Sheehy also noted in the letter that three months after the monkey bite, a worker handling lab mice was potentially exposed to Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in February 2026, which apparently happened because of a hole in their protective equipment.

Sheehy also accused Munster of travelling to Africa for "research activities", and bringing "vials with unknown contents in his personal luggage" upon his return. He was allegedly detained at a Detroit Airport with the same. Sheehy quoted a whistleblower as saying that, despite this incident, Munster and his associates were allowed to "come and go as they pleased". "These events raise serious questions about the safety and security procedures at the lab," Sheehy said in his letter.