How did a High-Security Lab Employee become Exposed to Bioterror Bacteria?
AllGov.com
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Federal investigators have identified lapses in safety protocol that may explain how a lab worker at the Tulane National Primate Research Center near New Orleans may have been exposed to a dangerous bioterror bacteria.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that an employee at the primate center’s veterinary clinic experienced “possible current or prior exposure” to the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, which can cause a fatal disease. The CDC added that the worker had so far shown no signs of illness related to the possible exposure.
The incident at first baffled investigators because the deadly bacterium managed to travel from a supposedly ultra-secure research lab to the hospital, which is in a separate building five minutes away.
In addition the employee, at least eight monkeys housed at the center were exposed to or sickened by the bacterium, which naturally lives and grows in the soil and water of Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Initially, in December, two rhesus macaque monkeys became sick as a result of the exposure and were eventually euthanized; a third one followed. None of the eight monkeys had been used in experiments involving the bacterium, and should have had no contact with it.
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