Just another biosafety breach

An outbreak investigation of a Maine poultry vaccine facility concluded last week that a spill infected about a third of the facility's 74 employees with salmonella poisoning, according to a linkurl:notice;http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1001:10722522844908593057::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,39119 on ProMED-mail, an information service of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. The notice, also linkurl:published;http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/previe

| 1 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
1:00
Share
An outbreak investigation of a Maine poultry vaccine facility concluded last week that a spill infected about a third of the facility's 74 employees with salmonella poisoning, according to a linkurl:notice;http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1001:10722522844908593057::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,39119 on ProMED-mail, an information service of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. The notice, also linkurl:published;http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5634a1.htm in the CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, said that the state's Department of Health and Human Services started an investigation after two cases of salmonellosis were reported within two weeks last November and were easily traced back to an overflow of about 1.5 liters of liquid containing S. enteritidis in the plant's fermentation room. An employee cleaned up the spill with 5 percent bleach and a disinfectant, then brought the mop to another room to be autoclaved and thrown away. Investigators noted that working in this second room correlated strongly with getting ill. They also noted that facility had no established spill clean-up procedures and that employees had less than ideal practices in handwashing and wearing protective gear. "The issues related to this cluster seem overtly clear. A laboratory accident results in a spill, and an inadequately documented clean-up together with poor infection control practices among the workers resulted in the outbreak of cases," a ProMED-mail moderator wrote in the Email bulletin. Although none of the employees appear to have suffered anything more than a mild case of the runs, the case may be just one more reminder of how linkurl:easily accidents happen;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53487/, and how difficult their linkurl:effects;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53474/ may be to contain.
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Alla Katsnelson

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio