E. coli accident causes evacuation of biology lab

On Feb. 23 the campus microbiology labs had to evacuate because of an accident involving a live strain of Escherichia coli. 

Biomedical science/pre-dental major Kevin Bostick shared a personal account of what happened. According to Bostick, The class was conducting tests on live E. coli bacteria in test tubes with glucose.  After the tests, a student was carrying the test tube to throw it away as instructed, but tripped and dropped the test tube. 

“…so it basically like spread through the lab and E. coli spreads really fast. So they evacuate the lab and brought in some big cleaning team and whatever to clean, like fully clean the lab and dispose of everything in the lab…” said Bostick.

The effects of the accident did not end there.  Bostick explains, “Also the state sent us all an email telling us how bad it was.”  The number of students who got infected is not currently known.

More information and quotes will be posted to the myjtac.com as it becomes available.