May 1958

Alumni Bulletin

Fall/Winter 1983

Yale Medicine

May 1958
Alumni Bulletin

Report on Alumni Day

“In spite of a heavy snowfall the preceding weekend and snow flurries on the morning of Saturday, February 22, many Yale Alumni in Medicine turned out for the annual Alumni Day activities at the school. Almost 200 were present at the afternoon business meeting in Fitkin Amphitheater. Dr. Samuel D. Kushlan (’35) presided. Dean Vernon W. Lippard spoke briefly on recent developments at the medical school. Those attending then heard a lively discussion of coronary heart disease by Dr. Jeremy N. Morris, visiting professor of epidemiology.”

Fall/Winter 1983
Yale Medicine

The Case of Three Missing Hamsters

“Three infected hamsters reported missing from their cage in the animal containment facility on the ninth floor of the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health became overnight celebrities—of a sort. ‘Infected Yale Hamsters Escape’ was headline news for the wire services, major television and radio networks and newspapers across the nation, including the New York Times, which devoted almost half a page to the story.

“The hamsters have not been found, and are presumed dead. Although their disappearance caused considerable stir in the media and concern in the University, the three rodents and others like them in the LEPH-9 facility are of little threat to human health and the likelihood that they escaped from the facility is practically nil. …

“The hamsters were among several hundred research animals in a major study of Alzheimer’s disease … [they were] infected with Creutzfeld-Jakob virus, a so-called ‘slow virus,’ which is invariably fatal, and causes symptoms of senility similar to those of Alzheimer’s disease. …

“A series of meetings has since been held to ascertain facts of the escape, and to plan remedial actions.”