7
Tracking outbreaks
T with a murder attempt. For over ten years,
Richard Schmidt, a gastroenterologist in Lafayette, Louisiana, had
been having a relationship with Janice Trahan, a nurse fifteen years
his junior. She’d divorced her husband after the affair started, but
despite his promises, Schmidt had not left his wife and three
children. Trahan had tried to break off the affair before, but this time
it would be for good.
She would later testify that a couple of weeks afterwards, on 4
August 1994, Schmidt had come to her home while she was asleep.
Schmidt told her he was there to give her a shot of vitamin B12. He’d
previously given her vitamin injections to boost her energy levels, but
that night she told him she didn’t want one. Before she could stop
him, he’d stuck a needle in her arm. None of the previous injections
had hurt, but this time the pain spread right through the limb. At
which point, Schmidt said he had to leave to go to the hospital.
The pain continued overnight, and in the weeks that followed, she
became ill with flu-like symptoms. She made several trips to the
hospital, but test after test came back negative. One doctor had
suspected , but didn’t test for it. He later said that his colleague –
one Dr Schmidt – had told him that Trahan had already tested
negative for the infection. Her illness continued, and eventually
another doctor ordered a new set of tests. In January 1995, Trahan
finally received the correct diagnosis: she was positive.
Back in August, Trahan had told a colleague she’d suspected that
the ‘shot in the dark’ wasn’t B12. There was no doubt that was a
recent infection: she’d given blood several times and her most recent
donation – made in April 1994 – had tested negative for .
According to a local specialist, the progression of her symptoms
was consistent with an early August date of infection. When police
searched Schmidt’s offices, they found evidence that blood had been