SCI/TECH: Boston U. Delayed Reporting Possibly Lethal Exposure

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Boston University officials waited nearly two weeks to notify public health authorities that they had serious concerns that researchers might have been exposed to a potentially lethal bacterium while conducting experiments, a delay that could have violated laws requiring prompt reporting of suspected infectious disease cases.

The university yesterday confirmed that on Oct. 28, test results showed that researchers who had thought they were working with a harmless variety of the bacteria tularemia instead had been working with material that appeared to be contaminated and that might have caused illnesses in three researchers. In May, two scientists had fallen ill with flu-like symptoms, and in September, a third became ill, raising suspicions that they had developed tularemia.

On Nov. 4, Dr. Peter A. Rice, the senior scientist involved in the research, was ordered by the university's Institutional Biosafety Committee to immediately cease all his work on developing a vaccine against the bacterium because of concerns about the safety of workers, BU said.

But the suspected cases of tularemia were not reported to the state Department of Public Health until Nov. 9 and to the Boston Public Health Commission until Nov. 10. The city's director of communicable disease control, Dr. Anita Barry, said last night that BU "should have notified us as soon as someone suspected a case of tularemia."

Tularemia is a reportable disease in Massachusetts, and state law requires "cases or suspect cases" of such diseases to be reported to public health authorities "immediately, but in no case more than 24 hours" after being identified.


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