Lab cited when worker dies from animal fluids
A primate research center in Atlanta has been fined $105,300 after a worker died following an incident in which a monkey splashed her face with body fluids, causing her to contract a fatal herpes B infection.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) assessed the penalties after an investigation determined the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University was at fault for not preventing the infection. Part of the penalties involved a "willful violation" for not providing employees with appropriate eye and face protection that could protect workers against body fluid splashes or scratches by animals.
The incident occurred Oct. 29, when 22-year-old Elizabeth Griffin was examining macaque monkeys at the research center, which is a leader in primate research. While transferring a monkey from a transfer box into a cage, some type of body fluids from the monkey splashed into her right eye. She was not wearing eye protection, and it is believed that the fluids were urine and diarrhea. (Monkeys are known to intentionally throw their feces.)
Griffin wiped her eyes with a paper towel and flushed them with water 45 minutes later. She made no official report of the accident. She contracted herpes B, a virus common but harmless in monkeys, and became ill immediately with a nervous system infection. She died Dec. 10, only 12 days after the exposure.
OSHA began an investigation after her death and expanded it when a similar incident occurred two days after Griffin's death. The employee involved in that incident was hospitalized for two days as a precaution but did not develop an infection.
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