Flooding at UGA germ lab revealed

A University of Georgia high-containment germ lab, designed for experiments on infected cows and other animals, flooded twice this fall and leaked water into a basement during one of the overflows, according to internal reports.

The lab was shut down after the experiment was complete, which was two weeks after the last flood. The lab will remain closed until UGA officials are satisfied that the flooding problem has been solved. Cows used in the experiment were destroyed at its end.

The flooding and the leak raise questions about the operation of the biosafety lab, which is one of about a dozen in the three-level building. Other labs in the building continue to operate. Officials said future experiments at the center could include work on germs such as SARS, West Nile, tuberculosis and highly pathogenic avian flu.

School officials acknowledged that any leak outside the secured biosafety lab represents a serious concern and could be hazardous to workers and the public if the leak contained dangerous germs or viruses.

But UGA officials said the recent incidents at the large animal lab posed no threat to workers, students or the public; the water that leaked into the basement was not contaminated. They said the lab is experiencing the customary problems of a new facility, and they stressed that it has never had a breach of dangerous material.

UGA facility manager Michael Mispagel said the floods — the first of some 15,000 gallons, and the second of about 5,000 gallons— did not expose any workers or the public to dangerous germs. The floods and leak were cleaned and the lab was decontaminated, he said.

These incidents mark the latest failures for the Animal Health Research Center in Athens, a building that was supposed to open in 1999. The center, conceived as one of the most technologically advanced facilities on a university campus, aimed to conduct cutting-edge research on diseases that infect humans and animals. It was largely reconstructed before that experimental work began in 2006. Throughout the years as the building sat largely useless, its price tag tripled to $60 million, mostly paid for by Georgia taxpayers.

The latest troubles inside the center were not reported to state or federal agencies. Because the lab was working with a low-risk virus, it was not required to report the incidents. Through the state Open Records Act, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, e-mails and reports related to the building, the floods and the leak.

Water as high as 3 inches

In April, several young cows were brought to the large animal lab for experiments on a low-level virus, said Dr. Danny Mead, head of the project. It would be the first of several groups of cows used to study a strain of vesicular stomatitis virus. The virus appears mostly in cattle but can be transmitted to humans in rare cases. Infected people can experience flulike symptoms.

Mead said the research is important since the symptoms of the virus — blisters on the animal’s mouth and nose — resemble foot-and-mouth disease. The United States is free of foot-and-mouth disease, and researchers want to learn more about vesicular stomatitis to prevent a misdiagnosis, which could prompt the inappropriate killing of animals.

In the course of the experiments, the large animal lab required copious amounts of water to wash down animal living areas and run various sterilizing machinery. On Sept. 24, a door did not properly close on an approximately 4-feet-by-6-feet sterilizer, and that caused water to be continuously pumped throughout the night. Water overwhelmed the drainage system and backed up through floor drains, rising as high as 3 inches.

Some of this water — an estimated 5 to 10 gallons — escaped the secure environment of the lab and leaked into the basement. Since the cows used in the experiments had not yet been infected, the water was not contaminated, officials said. No untreated water entered the sewer system, Mispagel said. The basement was cleaned with strong, germ-killing chemicals.

The lab’s security includes a filtered air system, sealed work areas and fingerprint access. Workers must wear rubber gloves and boots, eye protection and masks over their mouth and nose.

The 10,000-square-foot basement does not have that level of security, though it does require fingerprint access. The section of the basement where the water leaked has a low wall around it, a concrete floor and no drains, UGA Biosafety Director Maria Kuhn said.

The second overnight flood occurred Oct. 2. By then, some cows had the virus, but none of the flooded water left the lab containment area or leaked into the basement, Kuhn said.

Richard Ebright, a microbiologist and biosafety expert at Rutgers University in New Jersey, agreed with UGA officials that some problems do occur as labs start up. But Ebright said UGA should have installed water-level alarms after the first flood. The basement leak represented “a breach of containment,” he said, adding that such breaches are a “potentially serious hazard.”

“It appears that …

measures to prevent this from happening again were not put in place,” Ebright said.

Lab officials said they were working to identify and fix the problem after the first flood. Various adjustments to the water system had been made. Tests were performed and officials believed the system was working as designed, said Mispagel, the facilities manager.

It was only after the second flood that the source of the problem — the door on the large sterilizer, which caused a water pump to keep running — was identified, he said.

The malfunctions occurred as a UGA site is a finalist for a $500 million Department of Homeland Security biodefense facility dedicated to combatting contagious human and animal diseases.

Some community activists say the lab accidents have heightened concern about an accident releasing germs into the community.

“They keep having problems,” said Grady Thrasher, co-founder of the group For Athens Quality of Life, which opposes the Homeland Security project.

But school officials said the Animal Health Research Center has numerous safety measures and backup systems to prevent any such breach and the public should not be fearful.

Building had bad start

UGA was not the lead manager over the construction of the Animal Health Research Center. That responsibility stood with the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, an arm of state government that handles bond debt and construction of buildings.

Early inspections revealed problems in the building’s heating and ventilation systems and its handling of wastewater, some of which posed potential safety hazards, according to records. The 1999 opening was postponed. Crisscrossing accusations erupted between the state and the construction company before more than half of the building was gutted and rebuilt. Some labs in the building opened in 2006, and the lab for large animal research began its research this spring.

Mispagel, the facilities manager, said repairs are under way and will include installing alarms and an automatic shut-off on the autoclave, as well as water-level monitors in the wastewater system.

Officials said they hope to reopen the large animal lab early next year.