University of Texas at Austin officials failed to report 10 laboratory accidents to federal authorities over the past seven years, the Associated Press reported. In five of the incidents, laboratory workers were infected with Shigella, an infectious bacterium that can cause diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. All of the workers recovered.

Three of the other incidents involved accidental cuts. In one, a laboratory worker pricked his finger on a scalpel he was using to clean human nerve tissue; in another, a worker accidentally stuck a colleague with a needle that had just been used to inject a mouse with tumor cells; in the third, a worker was cut when a vial containing human embryonic stem kidney cells exploded. The remaining two cases involved a worker who got human blood in his eye and a biowaste bag that tore in the trash.

In a statement, the university said that it had taken steps to improve its safety training and had created a “rapid-response team” to respond to laboratory accidents. It also added a full-time coordinator to support its Institutional Biosafety Committee, which oversees research involving recombinant DNA.

The incidents at Austin, though serious, were mild compared with the host of safety and security violations at Texas A&M University at College Station that resulted in a suspension of all research there on dangerous microbes that could be used in biological warfare. —Kelly Field