Posted: June 26th, 2012 - 10:03am
Source: KOINlocal6

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- A teenager was sickened by a strain of salmonella that originated inside a Clark College microbiology lab earlier this month.
The teen is a roommate of a student who was in a class studying live salmonella cultures, confirmed Catherine Kroll, an epidemiologist with the Clark County Public Health Department (CCPH).
"We believe the child could have been infected one of two ways," Kroll said. "The first could be that the person working in the lab became ill and brought that home... Or that person brought home items that were used in the lab, such as pens and pencils and those were then used by the child."
It is the first case of salmonella to come out of a teaching lab in Clark County, CCPH said.
Clark College spokeswoman Barbara Kerr released a written statement Friday morning:
"This type of incident has never happened before in our nearly 79-year history, but one time is one too many. We appreciate the opportunity to work closely with Clark County Public Health to ensure that we are implementing best practices in our classrooms. The safety of our students always comes first."
CCPH did a review of Clark College lab procedures after the case of salmonella was reported.
"One of the big recommendations we made involved taking personal items in and out of the lab," Kroll said… "Often, students will bring pens and pencils from home and use them in the laboratory, and what we've recommended, is that Clark College actually purchase pens and pencils and keep them in the lab and not have students take them back and forth."