Nation IN BRIEF : PENNSYLVANIA : Students Exposed to Leukemia Virus

Dozens of preschool children and eight University of Pennsylvania veterinary students were exposed to lambs that had been injected with a potentially fatal virus, but school officials said the risk of anyone getting ill was extremely remote. Nevertheless, the university is recommending that a score of students and staff be tested for the virus as a precaution and has offered blood tests to about 100 children who came in contact with the lambs. The lambs had been inoculated with the virus, which can cause a fatal form of leukemia. It can take 10 to 30 years for the virus to develop in humans. A university spokesman in Philadelphia said a breach in laboratory regulations by a senior researcher exposed the students, staff and the children who petted the lambs during a field trip last month to Penn’s New Bolton Center near Kennett Square, Pa.