You know what would have made reading this worthwhile. If it said what the RISK to students and faculty is RIGHT NOW. That should have been one of the first grafs. The Battalion sucks so bad now. What. Happened?

Jackson,

You don't think the fact that A&M is testing agents used in biological weapons, the fact that a researcher got injured, and the fact that A&M failed to report it for a whole year is not big enough news? What hole did you just crawl out of?

The research conducted in the lab this incident occurred in has nothing to do with bioweapons. This fact was obviously omitted purposefully. This particular lab is located in the Vet school and the work pertains to brucella infection and resistance in CATTLE. This is just another case of the batt looking to make a big story out of a little incident. The person infected posed no risk to the community. Yes, someone screwed up and didn't report the infection in a timely manner. The batt should report the whole story and the facts instead of portions and fictious material.

You don't think that here in Aggieland, where Aggies are supposed to not lie, cheat, or steal, that this is a big story? Officials LIED and covered up what was going on in the lab. If they lied about this little thing that has nothing to do with bioweapons (so you say), what do you think they'll do when it does involve bioweapons? LIE even more. This is a huge incident and I wish the Batt had reported on it sooner!

Darren, if it had nothing to do with bioweapons, please explain why EVERY action taken with the use of brucella must be filed with the CDC under the 2002 Bioterrorism Act?
Again, the story is not about the fact that the person infected posed or didn't pose a threat, the story is about A&M NOT FILING THE REPORT FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR! If you don't think that's a big story, then you sir are covering the facts and writing the fiction, not The Batt.

Why did the researcher not report the infection for 2 months? It sounds like A&M is not the only one at fault for not reporting the incident.

The person with the brucella infection found out about a week after. The appropriate department on campus was notified. Was there a concerted effort to hide that fact? Possibly. What would they gain from it.
Brucella is a naturally occurring bacteria (as is anthrax). Cattle are exposed to it all the time, primarily in developing countries. The work at A&M is done to help reduce the natural occurence in said countries. It can be turned into a bioweapon, as can anthrax. Anthrax is also found to naturally infect cattle and other farm animals. You have to weaponize these bacteria to produce bioweapons. There is NO lab on campus that is doing work along these lines. However, work on these bacteria (and others) must be reported after the anthrax scares of 01.
The Batt wasn't the first to report this story either. As usual, it was reported in other papers within the past week. The batt didn't even do a decent job of copying those papers. They reported more of the story, the batt just stole the sensational material.
I am not covering any facts. I have no vested interest in this lab. I do know former graduate students from this lab. They were not/are not working on bioweapons of any sort. I was only pointing out that the batt did not report all the facts about this incident. It always amazes me how the uninformed masses feel so informed.

Darren:

Why do you say that the person with the brucella infection "found out about a week later"?

From what I have read about this, the accident happened in February 2006 and the diagnosis was made in April 2006. A week after what? Going home sick? After the February accident? I don't understand.