College lab class ends with 32 people on antibiotics after deadly germ exposure

A college lab mix-up led officials to fear exposure to Neisseria meningitidis after a vial in a freezer appeared mislabeled.

Public health authorities ordered post-exposure antibiotics and evaluated two students for possible infection.

Later testing showed the sample was actually the harmless N. sicca, not the dangerous meningococcal bacterium.

The investigation found major failures in storage, labeling, and inventory controls, prompting biosafety reforms.