Reasonable Rascal
04-22-02, 21:35
Date: 20 Apr 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: NY Times [edited]
Anthrax contaminates army laboratory; employee tests positive
---------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON, 19 Apr 2002: A worker at a United States Army biological warfare research center in Maryland has tested positive for anthrax exposure after spores were detected in a hallway and an administrative room
near where anthrax testing was conducted, a Pentagon spokesman said tonight. Another employee may have also come in contact with anthrax, but tested negative for exposure, said the spokesman, Commander Randy Sandoz.
The tests on the employees were conducted after a researcher on 8 Apr 2002 noticed a deposit on a flask inside the anthrax testing laboratory at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at
Fort Detrick, Md, officials said. Initial decontamination of the area has been completed, Commander Sandoz said.
The institute has been involved in the investigation of the anthrax attacks last fall that killed 5 people, sickened more than a dozen others, and left traces of the biological agent in several federal buildings in Washington. But the laboratory in this episode was not connected to the inquiry into
those attacks, said Chuck Dasey, a Fort Detrick spokesman. Tonight, the Pentagon said, "the presence of the spores appears to be highly localized based on negative results from sampling of surrounding areas." It added, "There are no cases of illness suggestive of anthrax exposure in the
laboratory, and appropriate measures are being taken to ensure the safety" of the institute's workers. Both of the tested employees had earlier been immunized against anthrax, and are now taking antibiotics as a precaution, Commander Sandoz said.
Officials said they were not certain how the anthrax might have contaminated the hallway and administrative area at the institute, which has strict rules on the handling of the agent.
Anthrax exposure by laboratory workers handling spores has occurred before. Last month, a worker at a Texas laboratory conducting tests on specimens from last fall's anthrax attacks developed the skin form of anthrax, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. The worker was processing samples at a private laboratory contracted by CDC to work through the backlog collected during the peak of the anthrax attacks last fall.
******
[2]
Date: Sun 21 Apr 2002 5:37 PM
From: George Robertson <RobertG3@wyeth.com>
Source: Washington Post, Sat 20 Apr 2002; Page A09 [edited]
Anthrax spores escape a lab at Fort Detrick
-------------------------------------------
Spores of the anthrax bacterium have been discovered in 2 areas of an army research building at Fort Detrick, Md, and an army scientist involved in research there has tested positive for exposure to the potentially deadly microbes, the army said last night.
The scientist's exposure and the spread of the spores in the building appeared to be accidental and were not being treated as evidence of a crime or of unauthorized work in the high security labs, according to the army.
The scientist, whose name was not released, had previously been vaccinated against the disease and has no symptoms, said army public affairs officer Chuck Dasey. That scientist and another who worked in the same building but who tested negative for exposure are both taking antibiotics as a precaution, Dasey said.
Officials remain uncertain how the spores escaped from the laboratory, where the bacteria were the subject of ongoing experiments. The army would not characterize the nature of the experiments except to say they involved "biodefence" and were unrelated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
investigation into last fall's terrorist mailings of anthrax spores.
Suspicions of trouble first arose on 8 Apr 2002, when the 2 scientists noticed some liquid and dried deposits on the outside of a flask in the biosafety level 3 [BL3] laboratory, a highly secure sealed lab used for dangerous pathogens. Normally, Dasey said, such liquids and powders would be expected to be better contained. In addition to testing the 2 scientists for exposure to the bacteria, dozens of environmental tests were conducted to check for the presence of spores in adjacent rooms and hallways. Results arrived on Thursday and 2 were positive -- one in an administrative room
adjacent to the lab in the research building and one in a nearby hallway, Dasey said. [As BL3 laboratories are normally run at negative pressure, the escape might indicate a problem of a higher order of magnitude. - Mod.MHJ]
Yesterday, about 100 employees were moved out of the building so that more extensive environmental testing and decontamination procedures could be initiated.
Dasey said the anthrax studies underway at the lab were not classified. He said he did not know whether the strain under study was the so-called Ames strain used in last fall's attacks, which killed 5 people and sickened more than a dozen others.
[Byline: Rick Weiss]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[It is hard to tell exactly what is meant by "testing positive for exposure", as there is no mention of any lesion or clinical condition, and it seems that the workers were tested only after environmental contamination had been found. A positive nasal swab? As the report states that "there were no cases of illness" we can only assume that this
extra-experimental area suffered from an accidental aerosol related to whatever is meant by "anthrax testing". In our experience contamination is most often related to centrifugation (never, never centrifuge Sterne cultures -- the Sterne spores fly with the greatest of ease!) or forgetting to remove plastic gloves between job sites within the laboratory. Gunk on the outside of a flask could be from something dropped and broken. I well remember the safety officer at Porton telling me that in the 1950s and
1960s he regularly discovered what "secret" pathogens were in which laboratories by swabbing the laboratory door handles. If the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases can suffer such an
event, any of us can, and we should all take the necessary extra precautions. - Mod.MHJ]
---------------------------------------------
Fair use for education
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: NY Times [edited]
Anthrax contaminates army laboratory; employee tests positive
---------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON, 19 Apr 2002: A worker at a United States Army biological warfare research center in Maryland has tested positive for anthrax exposure after spores were detected in a hallway and an administrative room
near where anthrax testing was conducted, a Pentagon spokesman said tonight. Another employee may have also come in contact with anthrax, but tested negative for exposure, said the spokesman, Commander Randy Sandoz.
The tests on the employees were conducted after a researcher on 8 Apr 2002 noticed a deposit on a flask inside the anthrax testing laboratory at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at
Fort Detrick, Md, officials said. Initial decontamination of the area has been completed, Commander Sandoz said.
The institute has been involved in the investigation of the anthrax attacks last fall that killed 5 people, sickened more than a dozen others, and left traces of the biological agent in several federal buildings in Washington. But the laboratory in this episode was not connected to the inquiry into
those attacks, said Chuck Dasey, a Fort Detrick spokesman. Tonight, the Pentagon said, "the presence of the spores appears to be highly localized based on negative results from sampling of surrounding areas." It added, "There are no cases of illness suggestive of anthrax exposure in the
laboratory, and appropriate measures are being taken to ensure the safety" of the institute's workers. Both of the tested employees had earlier been immunized against anthrax, and are now taking antibiotics as a precaution, Commander Sandoz said.
Officials said they were not certain how the anthrax might have contaminated the hallway and administrative area at the institute, which has strict rules on the handling of the agent.
Anthrax exposure by laboratory workers handling spores has occurred before. Last month, a worker at a Texas laboratory conducting tests on specimens from last fall's anthrax attacks developed the skin form of anthrax, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. The worker was processing samples at a private laboratory contracted by CDC to work through the backlog collected during the peak of the anthrax attacks last fall.
******
[2]
Date: Sun 21 Apr 2002 5:37 PM
From: George Robertson <RobertG3@wyeth.com>
Source: Washington Post, Sat 20 Apr 2002; Page A09 [edited]
Anthrax spores escape a lab at Fort Detrick
-------------------------------------------
Spores of the anthrax bacterium have been discovered in 2 areas of an army research building at Fort Detrick, Md, and an army scientist involved in research there has tested positive for exposure to the potentially deadly microbes, the army said last night.
The scientist's exposure and the spread of the spores in the building appeared to be accidental and were not being treated as evidence of a crime or of unauthorized work in the high security labs, according to the army.
The scientist, whose name was not released, had previously been vaccinated against the disease and has no symptoms, said army public affairs officer Chuck Dasey. That scientist and another who worked in the same building but who tested negative for exposure are both taking antibiotics as a precaution, Dasey said.
Officials remain uncertain how the spores escaped from the laboratory, where the bacteria were the subject of ongoing experiments. The army would not characterize the nature of the experiments except to say they involved "biodefence" and were unrelated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
investigation into last fall's terrorist mailings of anthrax spores.
Suspicions of trouble first arose on 8 Apr 2002, when the 2 scientists noticed some liquid and dried deposits on the outside of a flask in the biosafety level 3 [BL3] laboratory, a highly secure sealed lab used for dangerous pathogens. Normally, Dasey said, such liquids and powders would be expected to be better contained. In addition to testing the 2 scientists for exposure to the bacteria, dozens of environmental tests were conducted to check for the presence of spores in adjacent rooms and hallways. Results arrived on Thursday and 2 were positive -- one in an administrative room
adjacent to the lab in the research building and one in a nearby hallway, Dasey said. [As BL3 laboratories are normally run at negative pressure, the escape might indicate a problem of a higher order of magnitude. - Mod.MHJ]
Yesterday, about 100 employees were moved out of the building so that more extensive environmental testing and decontamination procedures could be initiated.
Dasey said the anthrax studies underway at the lab were not classified. He said he did not know whether the strain under study was the so-called Ames strain used in last fall's attacks, which killed 5 people and sickened more than a dozen others.
[Byline: Rick Weiss]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[It is hard to tell exactly what is meant by "testing positive for exposure", as there is no mention of any lesion or clinical condition, and it seems that the workers were tested only after environmental contamination had been found. A positive nasal swab? As the report states that "there were no cases of illness" we can only assume that this
extra-experimental area suffered from an accidental aerosol related to whatever is meant by "anthrax testing". In our experience contamination is most often related to centrifugation (never, never centrifuge Sterne cultures -- the Sterne spores fly with the greatest of ease!) or forgetting to remove plastic gloves between job sites within the laboratory. Gunk on the outside of a flask could be from something dropped and broken. I well remember the safety officer at Porton telling me that in the 1950s and
1960s he regularly discovered what "secret" pathogens were in which laboratories by swabbing the laboratory door handles. If the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases can suffer such an
event, any of us can, and we should all take the necessary extra precautions. - Mod.MHJ]
---------------------------------------------
Fair use for education