CDC: Lab worker who contracted anthrax didn't wear gloves

ATLANTA - A Texas laboratory worker probably contracted skin anthrax last month because he was not wearing gloves when he handled vials of spores collected from last fall&#39;s mail attacks, the government said Thursday. <br> <br> The worker apparently was infected by handling the spores a day after he had cut his jaw while shaving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The man was placed on antibiotics and is recovering. <br> <br> The Texas infection was the first anthrax case in the United States since the anthrax-by-mail attacks last fall, which killed five people and sickened 13 more. <br> <br> The CDC has declined to release the name of the worker or the location of the lab. The agency said none of the 40 workers at the Texas lab had been vaccinated against anthrax. <br> <br> The infection apparently happened March 1 as the worker was moving vials of anthrax spores from a cabinet into a freezer in an adjacent room, the CDC said. <br> <br> He was not wearing gloves, the CDC&#39;s investigation found. Federal health officials recommend gloves for anyone handling material that might contain anthrax spores. <br> <br> Over the next few days, the shaving cut became larger and developed a scab, and the man reported swelling on his neck and a low-grade fever. A swab of the jaw scab later tested positive for anthrax. <br> <br> The man spent five days in the hospital, was given anthrax-fighting antibiotics and showed improvement. <br> <br> Health investigators swept the lab for anthrax spores and detected them only on the tops of the vials the lab worker had handled. None of the man&#39;s co-workers reported being sick. <br> <br> The CDC said the case highlights the need for workers who regularly handle anthrax specimens to be vaccinated against the disease. Workers at many anthrax labs already are. <br> <br> The lab worker was processing specimens in a private laboratory, one of several the CDC contracted with to work through a backlog of samples collected during the peak of the anthrax attacks. <br> <br> The lab is not a member of the CDC&#39;s Laboratory Response Network, a web of 110 facilities around the country under contract with the CDC to help in public health emergencies.

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