Updated 19.13 | Published 19.13
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full screen An employee at KI has been infected with tuberculosis after working with dangerous bacteria in a security laboratory. Stock photography Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
A doctoral student at the Karolinska Institute’s (KI) safety laboratory was infected with tuberculosis while working with dangerous bacteria, reports Dagens Nyheter.
It was in November 2022 that the employee dropped a bottle on the floor of the laboratory that handles dangerous bacteria for research purposes.
One hypothesis is that the doctoral student then became infected with the infectious disease when she wiped up the spillage from the bottle.
The incident is previously unknown and the infection was only discovered after ten months when the person contracted tuberculosis.
– We have very rigorous security procedures. This cannot happen. But even things that shouldn’t happen, unfortunately sometimes happen, says Susanne Nylén, Head of Department at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, to DN.
The incident is assessed as an accident and has been reported to the Swedish Work Environment Agency.