Coffee Poisoning Struck 6 at Harvard

by Jennifer Levitz

10/26/09

Six Harvard University Medical School employees who became ill in August after drinking coffee from the same coffee machine were poisoned, according to university officials.

In a letter to the medical-school community on Friday, officials said the coffee consumed by the employees has tested positive for sodium azide, a preservative commonly used in laboratories.

The school doesn’t know how the poisoning occurred, according to David Cameron, spokesman for the medical school, and no one has been disciplined. Harvard University police are investigating, along with the city of Boston’s Public Health Commission and the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The single-serve coffee machine was in a common area on the eighth floor of a facility called the New Research Building. After drinking the coffee on Aug. 26, one employee reportedly passed out and others felt dizzy. Five were treated and released that day from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and one was kept overnight, according to Friday’s letter, signed by Daniel Ennis, the medical school’s executive dean for administration, and Richard Shea, associate dean for physical planning and facilities.

“HMS leadership is committed to doing everything possible to understand what may have occurred,” the two officials wrote.

The employees were back to work in a day or two, said Mr. Cameron. The coffee machine was outside the pathology lab, which does research, using mice, on areas such as the immune system, he said.  CONTINUED HERE.