Major US drug company unwittingly became ‘super spreader’ after executives took infected 99 people

A major US drug company unwittingly became a ‘super spreader’ after a meeting of executives led to nearly 100 people becoming infected with coronavirus.

Biogen held an annual leadership meeting at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel, Massachusetts, in late February.

Following the meeting, Biogen employees reportedly took the virus to six states and infected at least 99 people.

After the meeting on February 26 and 27, many at the event felt healthy and boarded busy planes and traveled around the country, according to the New York Times.

Some employees drove to visit their families, unwittingly transmitting the disease to those they then met. By mid-March 32 cases were linked to the conference but now that figure has tripled to nearly 100. 

Around 30 per cent of the confirmed cases in the state are believed to have originated at the summit.

The Biogen Inc. office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a conference on February 26 as many as 99 people are thought to have been infected with coronavirus 

The meeting was held at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf hotel, and was attended by 175 of the company’s senior mangers from February 26 to February 27

The first known case of COVID-19 in Tennessee, as well as the first two infections in Indiana were reportedly Biogen executives.

The earliest group of six cases in North Carolina were also traced back to Biogen employees. 

Officially the number of those left ill by the cluster of infections, including employees and those they came into contact with is thought to be 99, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Although experts said the exact number of those infected across the US due to the Biogen outbreak is likely to be higher, the Times reports.  

All infected people outside Massachusetts have reportedly recovered, but it is not clear whether anyone became seriously ill or died from the spread from the conference.

The strategy meeting, attended by 175 of the company’s senior mangers, was one of many examples in the US of a super-spreader event that sees a small gathering generate a huge amount of infections. 

At least two of Biogen’s senior executives reportedly tested positive, but their identities have not been made public.

The first known case of COVID-19 in Tennessee, as well as the first two infections in Indiana were reportedly Biogen executives

Biogen initially reported to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health that around 50 employees in the Boston area and abroad were suffering from ‘flu-like symptoms’.

When some employees went to Massachusetts General Hospital trying to get tested for the virus they were turned away because they had not traveled from a hot-spot for the disease.

Later, two Biogen executives who returned to their home countries of Germany and Switzerland where tests were made available by their governments, then tested positive. 

One other attendee was a former associate director who allegedly hid her symptoms and traveled from Los Angeles to Beijing in the hope of receiving treatment.

The mother-of-one, named as Jie Li, claimed to have been denied a coronavirus test three times by American doctors before resorting to the drastic measure of travelling to China. 

Her husband, a 37-year-old university lecturer, also tested positive for the virus. 

Police are investigating her on suspicion of preventing the control of infectious diseases and she could face up to seven years in jail. 

Jie Li, her husband and their son are residents of Massachusetts, according to Beijing health officials. The picture is believed to show the couple’s home in Belmont, a suburb of Boston

Some have criticized Biogen for holding the conference at the end of February as some vice-presidents from European countries already badly affected by the virus were in attendance.

Others in the industry alleged Biogen withheld too much information about how many employees were infected.

John Carroll, editor of Endpoints News, which covers the biotech industry, told the Times: ‘The smartest people in healthcare and drug development – and they were completely oblivious to the biggest thing that was about to shatter their world.’ 

Other ‘superspreader events’ included a 40th birthday party in Connecticut that saw around half of the 50 guests become infected.

The lavish party in the wealthy suburb of Westport saw the disease transmitted around the US and abroad as far afield as South Africa. 

Another event in Kirkland, Washington, is thought to have led to an outbreak at a nursing home.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk