Woman's Apparent Glue Sensitivity Prompts NJ Hospital Lockdown

County officials say a woman's sensitivity to glue prompted the lockdown of a South Jersey hospital on Monday.

Emergency crews shut down Virtua's Berlin Hospital around 1 p.m. when a woman arrived at the hospital saying she was suffering a burning sensation on her hands after opening an envelope, Camden County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Jason Laughlin said.

The woman, from Winslow, N.J., drove herself to the hospital, he said.

As a precaution, the woman was quarantined in a waiting room near the emergency room and the county hazmat team was called in to investigate, Laughlin said.

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Crews from the Cherry Hill Fire Department could be seen gearing up in hazmat suits outside the hospital before heading inside through the emergency room portico.

The envelope, which the woman brought with her to the hospital, was tested as a precaution and deemed safe about an hour later.

Laughlin said the woman has a history of skin sensitivity to glue and it appears she had an adverse reaction to the glue on the envelope's flap.

"All precautions were taken as part of our normal operating procedures. No other patients or employees were ever at risk," hospital spokeswoman Peggy Leone told NBC10.com.

The hospital was reopened around 2:30 p.m.

Virtua's Berlin Hospital features 95 beds, an emergency room and surgical rooms, according to the health system's website.


PHOTO: A police officer blocks the entrance to Virtua's Berlin Hospital in Berlin, N.J. on Monday afternoon. Officials are responding to a hazmat situation near the emergency room.

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