CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a possible cancer cluster at a UNC Hospitals laboratory.
The National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety just began its assessment of the McLendon Clinical Laboratories on Monday.
UNC officials sent a notice to medical students, staff and lab workers on Jan. 18, sharing the “unsettling” news of recent concerns they said were raised by teammates, “about a possible pattern of cancer diagnoses of current and former teammates of the clinical laboratory area.”
Officials said their knowledge comes from two people who said four current workers, and possibly an additional 10-12 former teammates have been diagnosed with cancer in the last 20 years.
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UNC Hospital leaders told CBS 17 that about 1,000 people have worked in the lab in that timeframe.
The CDC considers any unusual pattern of cancer a cluster.