I remember from the non-fiction book "The Hot Zone" that two of the pioneering researchers accidentally inhaled Ebola Reston during the early phases of the investigation. (It smelled like grape juice if i recall correctly)
Rather than remove themselves from their research (or even tell anyone), they continued to work. They depended on the fact that they were working in isolation suits to protect their coworkers. With frequent testing of their blood after a time they were confident they were not infected.
In the end, they were fine and the research went on unimpeded by the exposure, but is shows how human nature can make smart people violate protocols if they think they either know better or that they have a handle on it.
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