A worker in a Texas laboratory was infected with the skin form of anthrax earlier this month, apparently while processing specimens related to last fall’s anthrax attacks, the Washington Post reported today.  The worker is taking antibiotics and recovering (see GSN, March 8).

The case was the first anthrax infection in the United States since November, according to the Post (see GSN, Nov. 21).  On March 4, a doctor examined an unusual skin lesion on the worker’s neck, swabbed the lesion and returned the swab to the worker, who took it back to the laboratory for testing.

When preliminary results indicated the presence of anthrax, laboratory staff contacted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which yesterday confirmed that the specimen from the swab does contain anthrax bacteria.

“We still don’t know the circumstances in the lab that led to him getting infected,” said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner.

The Texas laboratory is one of several facilities contracted to help with backlog from the unprecedented volume of specimens — including tens of thousands of environmental swabs — from the anthrax attacks, Skinner said.  It does not belong to the center’s public health emergency network, he added.

“You have to wonder how all this stuff being sent off to labs is being handled,” said Michael Osterholm, a bioterrorism expert at the University of Minnesota (Rick Weiss, Washington Post, March 13).

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