Posted on 05/10/2011 4:27:32 PM PDT by neverdem
Wave of infections triggers investigation into biosafety practices.
A spate of lab-associated Salmonella infections has swept across the United States during the past year, prompting public-health officials to examine how closely labs are following infection-prevention protocols.
"The fact that cases seem to be happening all over the country has raised the question of whether there are issues with laboratory safety and appropriate training techniques," says Mack Sewell, state epidemiologist at the New Mexico Department of Health in Santa Fe.
Between August 2010 and March this year, 73 infections due to Salmonella typhimurium, a relatively common strain of the bacterium, caused illness in people across 35 states and one death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, reported on 28 April. The outbreak now seems to have ended, with the number of reported new infections dropping to the usual baseline of 0–4 per week, the CDC says.
The strain of Salmonella involved in the outbreak often causes food-borne illnesses and has been linked to past epidemics. But what sets this recent outbreak apart is that many of the illnesses have been traced back to clinical or teaching laboratories, according to the CDC report.
The agency conducted an in-depth investigation of 32 people made ill during the current outbreak, and found that 60% of them had had some connection with a microbiology laboratory in the week before their illness, compared with 2% of 64 people with other reported illnesses. The New Mexico Department of...
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For now, public-health officials are advising all lab workers to be more careful about observing proper biosafety procedures. Recalling a memorable lesson imparted by his own professor, Sewell suggests one way to cement the importance of those precautions: "He told us that anyone who catches something they're working with gets an automatic 'F'."
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
micro ping
Proper aseptic techniques likely aren’t being followed. I work in a food safety lab and have spent many moons around Salmonella and have never once been infected.
Salmonella on intact skin is harmless, anyhow. Sounds like someone not being careful to wash up before handling something that goes in their mouth (like drinking, eating, or smoking).
How did their safety procedures stack up to Meth labs? ;-)
Something doesn’t add up here. 70+ cases, in 35 states over 8 months. You might see 1 or 2 teaching lab acquired bacterial infections a year, but in 35 states..and all from the same strain of bacteria? Unless the lab practices have changed over the last 30 yrs (and I’ve worked in and taught basic micro classes), there is more to this story.
Good points.
Does anyone ever address the increased suceptibility to infection to people working indoors in these labs due to exterme defficiency of vit. D?
Indoor workers are sick more often.
>> “ there is more to this story” <<
.
Occam’s razor seems to say so.
>Unless the lab practices have changed over the last 30 yrs (and I’ve worked in and taught basic micro classes), there is more to this story.<
Perhaps colleges are admitting imbeciles to their microbiology classes? Many college students cannot read, much less be expected to understand and to follow sterile procedure < / snarkiness>
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