Researcher at infectious disease laboratory in San Francisco dies of rare bacterial infection

Researcher at infectious disease laboratory in San Francisco dies of rare bacterial infection

m.cbsnews.com

May 4, 2012 – (CBS/AP) SAN FRANCISCO - A researcher at an infectious diseases laboratory in San Francisco has died of a rare bacteria strain, California health officials said, raising fears the man’s friends and fellow researchers may too have been infected. The 25-year-old man who worked at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who has not been named, died over the weekend shortly after asking friends to take him to a hospital, the San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday. –CBS

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This could be the beginning of the end. The movie CONTAGION is nothing by comparisson to this bacterium. More news on this will surely become available with time. What is the incubation period ? No one answers. What is the strain of what species ? No one answers. Why the secrecy ? Because any bets it is a secret tax payer funded "terrorist operation" gone wrong ? Or was it part of their plan to infect the poor man who picked the short straw ? Thus to put the bug into circulation. A bit like a suicide bomb attack, but biological instead of explosive.

m.cbsnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Your answers are that he was searching for a vaccine.

The critter that got him was Neisseria meningitidis bacterium.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.mercurynews.com...

reply to post by CAELENIUM


Hm, that's an awful link if you aren't on mobile phone so it was hard to read, but I'll comment.

I don't it's going to be the end of the world as it appears to only kill about 10% of it's victims.
en.wikipedia.org...
You come in contact with meningitis all the time, contact does not mean you will be infected.

Originally posted by antonia
reply to post by CAELENIUM

 

Hm, that's an awful link if you aren't on mobile phone so it was hard to read, but I'll comment.

I don't it's going to be the end of the world as it appears to only kill about 10% of it's victims.
en.wikipedia.org...
You come in contact with meningitis all the time, contact does not mean you will be infected.

edit on 4-5-2012 by antonia because: opps

So according to you we have nothing to worry about then ? Personally I think that we need to be careful. This particular bacterium might not be the one that wipes us off the face of the earth, but one of these days a biological weapon is certainly going to fall into the hands of terrorists ! It is only a matter of time !

Originally posted by CAELENIUM
Personally I think that we need to be careful. This particular bacterium might not be the one that wipes us off the face of the earth, but one of these days a biological weapon is certainly going to fall into the hands of terrorists ! It is only a matter of time !

We need to "be careful?"

What? Live in a plastic bubble and never leave our homes?
Stop living in fear.

reply to post by antonia

Seasonal flu has a death rate of less than 0.1 percent -- but still manages to kill 250,000 to 500,000 people globally every year. A category 5 pandemic would compare to the 1918 flu pandemic, which had an estimated death rate of 2 percent or more, and would kill tens of million of people

The 1918 flu death rate was only 2 percent and killed millions.
A 10 percent mortality rate is pretty high and definitely something to worry about.

The bad boys are Bird Flu and Ebola, which both have mortality rates reaching 100 percent.

Not intending to feed the fear...

"He left the lab around 5 p.m." Friday, said Lampiris said. "He had no symptoms at all." The man reportedly told his girlfriend two hours later that he felt sick with a headache, fever and chills. By Saturday morning his symptoms worsened with a rash and he asked to be taken to the hospital, but fell unconscious in the car and had no pulse on arrival. He died later that morning.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Department of Public Health was trying to locate everyone who had close contact with the researcher during the time he was infected, said spokeswoman Eileen Shields.

Friends and people who worked with man, as well as about 60 health workers involved in his treatment, were being given antibiotics, Shields said.

The CDC is also helping state and local officials with their investigation.

Centers for Disease Control spokeswoman Alison Patti wrote in an email to the San Jose Mercury news, "We're not certain how this death happened, but hopefully the investigation will turn up some answers to help prevent it from ever happening again.

Menengial infections are not something with which many of our newer crops of doctors are intimately familiar. Although I assure you most any doctor will proclaim they can handle it.

Let's hope this isn't easily transmissible by contact, but I note they haven't made any assertions about the vector of transmission.

Hopefully, although tragically, this death will be a one-off occurrence and the lab will remedy any deficiencies that might have contributed to the infection.

That the CDC is involved shows this is no 'casual' matter. But I wouldn't go running for the hills just yet.

Thanks for keeping your eyes open on this. Keep us updated as you can, please.

reply to post by Maxmars

Let's hope this isn't easily transmissible by contact, but I note they haven't made any assertions about the vector of transmission.

I havent looked it up or anything, so I could be wrong but I think it can only be spread by contact of bodily fluids, mucous, saliva etc..

So it is one of 5 types of menegitis...with 2 possible bad outcomes..

The germ can cause two separate but equally deadly conditions. One is septicemia, a bloodstream inflammation that causes bleeding into the skin and organs and is believed to be the cause of the man's death. The other is meningitis, which inflames the thin layer of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord and can lead to hearing loss, brain damage and death.

www.mercurynews.com...

"He left the lab around 5 p.m." Friday, said Harry Lampiris, chief of the VA hospital's infectious diseases division. "He had no symptoms at all." Two hours later, however, the Treasure Island resident reported to his girlfriend he was feeling sick with a headache, fever and chills, Lampiris said. Not until Saturday morning did the symptoms grow worse with a body rash. He asked friends to take him to the hospital but fell unconscious in the car and had no pulse by the time he arrived. He died later in the morning. "It starts out so nonspecifically people don't think it's anything serious," Lampiris said. "Obviously, he didn't suspect it." The San Francisco Department of Public Health is trying to identify everyone who had close contact with the worker during the time he was infected, said city health spokeswoman Eileen Shields

Symptoms started Friday evening and he was dead Saturday.....holy crap!!

Some info I found said it could have endangered anyone he encountered for 7 days before...do you realize how many people that could be?

reply to post by timetothink

Symptoms started Friday evening and he was dead Saturday.....holy crap!!

Yea, it kills very quickly. A lot of teenagers get it and it seems most of the time they get infected with it from swimming in lakes or ponds, usually in stagnant areas of the water.

Edit: I shouldnt say most teens get it, what I meant to say is that it seems that the majority of cases involve teens or maybe those are just the ones that are reported..

reply to post by antonia

His friends and co-workers are getting preventive antibiotics, as are some 60 health workers who treated him at the hospital, Shields said. The bacteria spreads through respiratory exposure such as sneezing and coughing or kissing.

www.mercurynews.com...

Passes through the respiratory system...such as with sneezing.

That sounds awful..I feel bad for him!
Of course we have no way of knowing how he was infected with it. Labs tend to handle these diseases pretty carefully. I wonder if a shortcut was taken, or he knew he accidentally infected himself, or the lab made a mistake.
So frightening!

I will keep an eye on any other developments.

reply to post by antonia

You come in contact with meningitis all the time, contact does not mean you will be infected


I think there are 2 types of meninigitis - aseptic menengitis is not contagious. I had that strain years ago, as
sick as I was I pulled thru.

Geez, it seems to me that SOP 101 for an infectious disease worker would be to report any symptoms ASAP and quarantine yourself. As soon as he felt sick there should have been some precautions...

Yeah what bothers me about this is that he's an experienced lab worker and gets infected? OK... something isn't right with that and no one in their right mind would NOT take the necessary precautions while working with bacterium. Seems odd to me thath e got infected to begin with. I feel sorry for his girlfriend too. She's lost him and is worried about her own demise too! Can be passed through sneezing, coughing, etc. Yeah I'd say that's HIGHLY infectious!

I don't think taking precautions in public is "living in fear" either. I think it's smart. There's alot of bugs out there that we don't get for many different reasons but those bugs are constantly changing in order to survive as well. It's what they do.

Remember, it's a bacterium and not a virus. Two very different things.

This is just a reminder to wash your hands regularly and stay clean.

Kinda sad that a young guy died though.

reply to post by MeesterB


Yes but Meningitis exists in both forms, bacterial and viral.

I started a thread on this 2 days ago www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by MeesterB
Remember, it's a bacterium and not a virus. Two very different things.

This is just a reminder to wash your hands regularly and stay clean.

Kinda sad that a young guy died though.

It passes through sneezing coughing and spit. Washing your hands won't save you from it.