Jeannette Adu-Bobie
Jeannette Adu-Bobie, was a British scientist who contracted meningococcal disease while working in a Wellington laboratory in Porirua, New Zealand, in 2005.
Dr Adu-Bobie - an expert on meningococcal vaccines - had been in New Zealand only 20 days and at ESR about seven working days when she contracted meningococcal septicaemia in March 2005. She spent several months in the hospital and had both legs, her left arm and the digits of her right hand amputated.
Four years later, in 2009, Dr. Adu-Bobie received an apology from the Labour Department which finally admitted that she was probably infected during her work at an Environment Science and Research laboratory in Porirua in 2005.
Labour Department regional manager Mike Munnelly said last night that he had informed her of the department's new conclusion.
"I regret the failure of the original investigation to reach what now appears a reasonable conclusion and apologise for any distress this may have caused."
The department agreed to review the original investigation after Dr Adu-Bobie pointed out research that suggested lab workers had a higher risk of infection.
The latest investigation also took into account a report commissioned by ACC. That report concluded that the balance of probabilities "overwhelmingly" suggested
she contracted the disease through her laboratory work.
In a statement issued through her British lawyer, Dr Adu-Bobie said the new report "concludes three years of distress and brings closure."
"At this point I believe there is nothing more to add and, I would like to continue to rebuild my life and move forward leaving the past behind."
She thanked New Zealanders for their support over the years and for the letters, cards and gifts she received while in Wellington Hospital and Hutt Hospital.
There was a
similar case of another laboratory worker acquiring meningococcal disease in a lab in California in 2014. He was rushed to the hospital and died the next day.
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