I'll take a side of hydrops fetalis with that

You know when you get this email from the Dean of Basic Science that they are not kidding around:

Dear Class –

One of the unknowns used in the microbiology lab this week is Listeria monocytogenes. This pathogen can cause intrauterine infections resulting in neonatal septicemia and meningitis. It is used in case 7D.

The strain that we use is an avirulent mutant with reduced invasiveness.

However, if you are pregnant then you may choose to be excused from lab this week. If you choose to participate in lab then you should not handle case 7D.

Please contact your counselor or me with any questions.

For those of you interested in knowing some of the side effects: Hydrops fetalis, stillbirth, spontaneous abortion. The babies that survive are left developmentally challenged with numerous problems.

The question than stands, what person in our class who has any potential of being pregnant would even come to lab that day?!

How did I end up here? Working with nasty nasty buggies? Pretty sure I wanted to be a doctor, not a CDC researcher.