-Caveat Lector-
In a message dated 99-06-30 13:34:53 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>This sounds like something out of a Jack Ryan book or one of those disaster
>movies. I can hear the ominous music playing now as some jerk infects a
>large portion of the population as a direct result of his blind stupidity
>and greed.
>
>Also, what the heck was this scientist doing leaving a highly infectious
>vial of bacteria in her suitcase? I've worked in a lab. You just don't do
>this stuff. If I were the paranoid suspicious type and saw conspiracies
>everywhere I would red-flag this little incident.
Stolen TB Vial Poses No Immediate Peril --
Bacteria responsible for outbreak in Kentucky
by Sabin Russell
San Francisco Chronicle, June 30, 1999
A vial of tuberculosis germs stolen from a San Francisco
hotel room Monday contained a strain of the bacteria responsible
for a 1995 outbreak of TB in rural Kentucky that scientists once
feared was especially dangerous.
Further study, however, suggests that the Kentucky strain --
dubbed CDC1551 -- is no more virulent than other varieties, but
has unique qualities that may help researchers develop a better
vaccine against tuberculosis.
Scientific interest in the unusual strain has been intense,
and a paper discussing new findings will be delivered today at
the National Institutes of Health-sponsored TB conference at the
Cathedral Hill Hotel, where the burglary took place.
City health officials yesterday continued to stress that the
only immediate danger posed by the stolen vial is to the thieves
if they were to open it.
"I'm not worried,"' said Dr. Masae Kawamura, director of TB
control for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
San Francisco police have no leads in their investigation of
the burglary of a University of California at San Diego
researcher's hotel room. Taken from her closet was a black Eddie
Bauer suitcase containing clothing, jewelry and an 8-inch
aluminium tube, rolled in plastic bubblewrap and clearly marked
"Biohazard."
Police said there were no signs of a break-in.
The material had been hand-delivered to the unidentified
scientist earlier by Sabine Ehrt, a post-doctoral researcher at
UC Berkeley. Transport of hazardous microbes is surprisingly
routine among laboratories. Typically, the vials are sent by
mail or UPS.
Until recently, CDC1551 had a reputation as a particularly
scary form of tuberculosis. It was studied intensely after a
frightening outbreak in Clinton County, Ky., and neighboring
Picket County, Tenn.
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported that just three patients with the suspect strain were
responsible for exposing 311 others through casual contact, in a
rural environment not known for harboring the disease.
Epidemiologists concluded that 72 percent of 429 people
known to have had contact with the three between 1994 and 1996
tested positive on a TB skin test, an almost unheard of infection
rate. Additional research showed that the bacteria grew in mouse
lungs at 10 times the rate of other laboratory TB strains.
But studies since have downplayed the danger.
"It turned out that the theory this strain was particularly
virulent was probably wrong,"' said UC San Francisco TB expert
Dr. Philip Hopewell.
A study being presented at the San Francisco conference
today by Rockefeller University researcher Claudia Manca found
that the Kentucky strain was not more contagious or severe, but
prompted a more vigorous immune response in infected mice.
That tendency to stir up the immune system explains why so
many Kentucky residents tested positive: the TB test actually
gauges immune reaction, not active infection. It is also the
type of response researchers like to see in a vaccine.
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