Fifth Monkey Has Signs Of Deadly Bacteria In Lab Mishap
Source: USA TODAY
Alison Young, USA TODAY 8:51 a.m. EST March 4, 2015
Tests indicate a fifth monkey had been exposed to deadly bacteria that was somehow released from a high-security lab at the Tulane National Primate Research Center near New Orleans, according to an e-mail circulated among federal and state investigators. The monkey, like the others before it, was not part of an experiment. How the dangerous pathogen got out of its lab remains a mystery.
Preliminary tests on a sample taken from the monkey, a rhesus macaque known as IL88, indicates a possible infection with Burkholderia pseudomallei, the potential bioterror bacteria that was being used in vaccine development research elsewhere on the primate center's 500-acre campus in Covington, La.
A confirmation test is being done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results are expected later this week or early next week, Tulane spokesman Michael Strecker said Tuesday evening.
Strecker said this fifth macaque, like the others that were confirmed as testing positive in recent weeks, had been in the facility's veterinary hospital around the same time late last year. The hospital is the leading suspect for where the primates were exposed to the bacteria — which was supposed to be securely contained inside a laboratory located in another building on the sprawling campus.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/03/fifth-monkey-tulane-lab-incident/24344585/
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