Deadly bacteria detected at Mayo Clinic: Three staff members exposed
Daily Mail A deadly bacteria that kills up to 50 percent of people it infects was recently detected at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
Three laboratory workers were exposed to the Burkholderia pseudomallei bacteria while testing samples from a 58-year-old man who had come in with an artery infection.
The employees were swabbed for the bacteria at the Phoenix hospital for three weeks to ensure they had not become infected. All three tested negative on every test.
The bacteria is native to Australia and parts of South East Asia but has made waves in the US after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned it was now endemic to the Gulf Coast.
In the case report, one employee with an underlying condition that was not detailed was described as being at 'high risk' of infection.
The individual grabbed samples of the bacteria from a petri dish and placed them into a machine for testing.
It was unclear how they were picked up, but this was likely done using an object like a pipette. They were likely also wearing protective equipment.
