A&M under investigation after disease transmission

By: Candace Birkelbach

Posted: 4/24/07

Texas A&M is being investigated after failing to timely report to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that a student researcher was infected with brucellosis in 2006.

Brucellosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria brucella, which is typically transmitted by animals. The student was accidentally infected while cleaning a chamber used to infect mice with aerosolized brucella for research purposes on Feb. 9, 2006. The researcher told A&M officials of the brucellosis diagnosis on April 10 or 11, 2006.

The Select Agent Rule, a regulation to implement the 2002 Bioterrorism Act, requires incidents such as that to be reported to the CDC within seven days, said Edward Hammond, project director of watchdog group Sunshine Project.

Sunshine Project, a group investigating this incident, reported the required APHIS/CDC form was filed April 11, 2007, a year after the incident. A&M may be fined $500,000, plus up to $250,000 for individual(s) that failed to report the incident, and criminal charges could also be filed, Hammond said.

CDC officials confirmed the ongoing investigation, but said there did not appear to be any current health threat.

David Prior, executive vice president and provost for A&M, released a statement stating that the event had been confirmed by an internal investigation and noted the person involved had recovered following treatment.

"We have since strengthened our safety, training and reporting procedures following the human error involved in not reporting this incident," Prior said in the statement. "We will be fully cooperative, and our goal is to comply with all current biosafety standards."

CDC officials were on campus to conduct an independent review of A&M's policies and procedures, Prior said in the statement.

No more statements will be released until A&M receives the final report from the CDC, which they expect to have later this week, said Steve Moore, vice president for communications and chief marketing officer for A&M.

"We want to have the same information out as the CDC, and once we receive their final report, A&M will issue an official response," Moore said.

The incident occurred when the researcher was cleaning a chamber that contained aerosolized brucella by climbing partially into it, which A&M officials said was inappropriate lab protocol. A&M officials later concluded that the brucella bacteria likely entered her body via her eyes as a result of this improper procedure.

Supervising was David McMurray, an A&M microbial and molecular pathogenesis professor and self-described inventor of the Madison Aerosol Chamber.

This is the third instance of lab-acquired infections related to the Madison chamber that the Sunshine Project has uncovered. Hammond said the others were in Seattle and New York City.

"These accidents do happen and are not uncommon at bio facilities," Moore said.

Hammond said the main concern with these types of incidents is the reporting procedure and that this is not only a problem at A&M.

"The biggest problem is that labs are subject to federal laws, which are flawed," Hammond said. "We need to change them so there is a single reporting requirement that makes sense, that universities and labs will actually obey, and we don't have that right now."

Hammond said this incident also shows how the federal government is encouraging labs to do more aggressive and risky research since Sept. 11.

Sunshine Project reported that more than 400 labs across the country are using bioweapons for research with about 20,000 people at those facilities.

"The two major facilities using bioweapon research in Texas are located at the UT Medical Branch in Galveston and the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical research in San Antonio," Hammond said. "A&M and UT have smaller levels of bioweapon research."

He said A&M is involved with multiple projects using brucella and also the bioweapon, "Q Fever," which is generally not lethal and may have been used in the Cuban Missile Crisis to weaken people.

Because A&M still has not released all the records he requested, Hammond said he filed a complaint with the attorney general in Austin and will be looking into why records are being withheld along with the CDC.

"Based on his assumptions, (Hammond) thinks A&M purposely covered this up, which I agree would cause great concern, but we just want same information out as the CDC," Moore said.