Brucella abortus RB51 Strain Sent in a Proficiency Testing Panel to Clinical and Public Health Laboratories

In early 2017, a laboratory proficiency testing panel, designed to assess laboratory competency for culture and identification of bacterial organisms, was distributed to clinical and public health microbiology laboratories. The panel included a Brucella abortus RB51 isolate. Although B. abortus RB51 is an attenuated Brucella species strain, it still poses some risk to laboratory personnel, particularly if safety precautions and personal protective equipment are not adequately deployed. The PT event highlighted the challenges that clinical and public health microbiology laboratories face when handling samples that can contain highly transmissible organisms that can lead to laboratory-acquired infections. This review describes the B. abortus RB51 PT event, its associated exposures, and subsequent medical interventions. General considerations for handling Brucella species, including RB51, in the clinical microbiology laboratory are also discussed. Finally, we describe lessons learned from this event, including improving a “culture of safety” in the clinical laboratory.