Chemical found in coffee machine linked to illnesses at Yale
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Yale University officials say a laboratory chemical has been detected in a coffee machine suspected to have caused four people at the university's medical school to fall ill.
University spokeswoman Karen Peart said Tuesday independent lab tests on a single-service pod-style coffee machine at the medical school indicated the presence of sodium azide.
She says the substance is commonly used in labs as a preservative and symptoms of exposure to it include headaches, nausea, vomiting and rapid breathing and heart rate.
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The university says the coffee machine at the focus of the Feb. 28 incident wasn't connected to a water source and the surrounding area has been declared safe. But it's unclear how the substance ended up in the machine.
University police are investigating.