AUSTIN
Federal authorities are investigating the cases of four Texas A&M University researchers who tested positive for exposure to bioweapons agents last year and the school’s delay in reporting the incidents.
Three researchers tested positive for exposure to the weapons agent Q fever in April 2006, two months after another researcher fell ill from contact with the another agent, Brucella, according to documents obtained by an Austin-based bioweapons watchdog group.
University officials waited one year to report the Brucella case to the Centers for Disease Control. The Q fever case still has not been reported. Federal law requires quick reporting of incidents.
The diseases, while rarely fatal in humans, cause high fevers and flulike symptoms. Both are difficult to cure.
There was little danger of an outbreak. Transmission of Q fever between humans is rare, and it hasn’t happened with Brucella.
Edward Hammond, director of the watchdog group the Sunshine Project, said the exposure could indicate a broader problem in bioweapons research.
