Biosafey Awareness was Lacking at Labs Where Salmonella Outbreak Hit Hardest
Commercially available Salmonella latched onto the lab coats, pens, keys, cell phones, mp3 players and whatnot of microbiology students and workers in an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that sickened more than 100 people in 38 states, killing one.
In a final report on the year-long outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week reported a correlation between illness and a lack of biosafety training and awareness. Minnesota and Pennsylvania led the country with nine illnesses each while Georgia had six cases and the state of Washington had five. Several states had four case patients.
The illnesses began showing up in late August 2010 and the outbreak lasted through June 2011. Among those sickened by the organism were children at the homes of lab students and workers -- proof that the pathogen traveled on objects needlessly taken into a laboratory or on lab clothing that should only have left the facility for laundering.
The link between illness and lack of biosafety awareness and training was found in professional surveys among varying groups of lab workers and students.
"Staff working at laboratories that were associated with illness were less likely to have knowledge of biosafety training materials,'' the CDC report said. "In comparison, staff working in laboratories that were not associated with illness were more likely to train students and staff on the signs and symptoms of infection with Salmonella when conducting safety training.''
The CDC report included advice to students, lab workers and lab managers. One piece of advice for managers is to use either non-pathogenic or attenuated bacterial strains when possible, especially when teaching.
