WASHINGTON—The National Institutes of Health is tightening monitoring and information programs for researchers and other staff who handle the AIDS virus. The new effort follows the announcement October 8 that a second worker has become infected, apparently in an accident at an contract facility. Some scien tists have also questioned whether current safety guidelines are adequate to deal with the dangers posed by working with the virus. The new procedures will require workers in the institutes AIDS labs to participate in testing administered and funded by NIH or to sign a waiver indicating that they have been notified of the program and would rather be monitored by a private physician, said Robert McKinney, director of NIH’s Division of Safety. McKinney heads a group that is meeting weekly to iron out details.
Although the two reported infections occurred at off-campus labs handling highly concentrated preparations of the AIDS virus, NIH officials ...
