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Compton's Institute for Animal Health
Bio-security fears at animal lab
Tue, August 07 2007

Concern surrounds Compton's Institute for Animal Health after sister lab investigated for foot-and-mouth outbreak
 

FRESH fears over bio-security at Compton’s Institute for Animal Health have been voiced after its sister centre in Pirbright became embroiled in the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak in Surrey.
In February this year, newburytoday.co.uk and the Newbury Weekly News exclusively revealed that health and safety inspectors forced the Institute for Animal Health (IAH ) in Compton to shut down its high security unit following fears that employees may have been contaminated with bovine tuberculosis.
IAH had to cull 15 disease-ridden cattle and lock down the unit after the inspectors discovered a security breach in a laboratory used to carry out tests on TB infected cows.
Pressure failure inside the high security compound sparked fears that up to 20 staff may have breathed in the disease-contaminated air.
At the time, HSE inspectors told newburytoday.co.uk: “During the routine inspection, work practices were observed which were deemed to pose a serious risk to human health.”
This led to fears that the bovine TB, an airborne disease that can spread to humans via infected milk and meat, could have escaped from the laboratory into neighbouring corridors where protective clothing and gas masks are not worn by staff.
The experiments carried out in the high security lab before it was closed on February 2 involved infecting cattle with bovine TB to test whether the inoculation used to pre-vent the disease in humans could also be used as a preventative measure in cattle.

 

Work practices were observed which were deemed to pose a serious risk to human health

Health and safety inspector
The high security unit carries out research into category three type pathogens, defined by the Government as “biological agents that can cause severe human disease and present a serious hazard to employees.”
Although IAH at the time dismissed the risk of staff contracting the disease as negligible, the Compton centre was unsure about the length of time the air ventilation and pressure systems had been faulty.
The February closure was the second time in four months that HSE inspectors had raised concerns about bio-security at the research centre.
HSE issued a warning in November concerning the possible outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at the institute.
The same health and safety inspector who served the prohibition notice on Compton in February is now conducting investigations into IAH’s Pirbright centre in Surrey, which is at the centre of the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak.
Two weeks ago, the research centre at Compton announced that it had won a Defra-supported grant worth £1.3 million to further its investigations into bovine TB and infectious bronchitis in chickens.
In 2001, scientists at IAH became embroiled in a scandal that nearly led to the nationwide cull of sheep after it was discovered that they were studying cow brains in-stead of sheep brains.
Four years later, IAH axed 40 jobs, blaming years of underfunding.
IAH now employs 220 staff at its Compton centre.
As well as bovine tuberculosis, the institute also investigates avian flu.

 
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