Laboratory-acquired infections are a reemerging problem.  In 1984, as research on pathogens was intensifying and laboratory-acquired infections were on the rise, the Center for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) published a comprehensive set of guidelines under the title ‘Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories’, known as the Guidelines, now in its fourth edition (http://www.cdc.gov/od/ohs/biosfty/bmbl4).  The impact was immediate and the guidelines probably prevented many infections in research and clinical laboratories and saved lives.  But are the guidelines adequate today?

With the advent of bioterrorism, and the emergence of various infectious diseases (from HIV, to E. coli O157:H7 and SARS), public consciousness and the level of research activity on human pathogens is at an all time high.  It is therefore predictable that the frequency of laboratory-acquired infections has risen in proportion.  No one really knows for sure because data are lacking.  The CDC does not routinely reports laboratory-acquired infections, because they are not considered outbreaks.  This suits the research institutions that prefer to avoid the negative publicity of accidents in their laboratories, and the federal agencies that prefer to look the other way.  Too often, laboratory accidents are either entirely covered up or sanitized for public consumption. The victims of this indifference and of the cover ups are the researchers, who pay with their health, their careers, and sometimes their lives.

The establishment of a mechanism of surveillance of laboratory-acquired infections, with systematic reporting and institutional accountability is long overdue.  The continued indifference to this problem by federal agencies on the pretense that this is a difficult issue to report on is no longer tenable.  It is also permissive of recklessness and negligence in laboratories with potential disastrous consequences for the researcher and the associated public.

The scientists who maintain this site were themselves recently victims of a laboratory-acquired infection.  Their specific story is one of reckless experimentation in full violation of BMBL4, a misdirected investigation by CDC, and a researcher whose health and career have been taken away.  Documents pertaining to this particular incident are posted on this web site. In particular, the report of the flawed CDC investigation of the incident and a rebuttal (still unanswered) are posted.

We invite visitors to send their comments and their own stories of laboratory-acquired infections for posting on this web site.