The University of Pittsburgh faces $5,250 in fines for the Sept. 24 macaque attack that left a laboratory employee with serious hand injuries.

The U.S. Occupational Health & Safety Administration cited the university Nov. 21 for two "serious" violations, including failing to provide adequate training for lab technicians and a lack of sufficient safety equipment inside the $18 million Regional Biocontainment Laboratory in Biomedical Science Tower 3, Oakland.

Leni Fortson, OSHA spokeswoman, said the university should have provided employees with sufficient training and protective gloves, among other safety equipment.

But university spokesman John Fedele said Pitt has filed an appeal to challenge the citation.

"We have provided all the appropriate equipment and training," Mr. Fedele said. "We have no further comment because the situation is under appeal."

Patricia Boyle, 54, of Avalon was feeding a macaque, known as a cynomolgus monkey, when it bit her in the right hand, just below the index and middle fingers. The monkey refused to release her hand, so Ms. Boyle was unable to pull it away.

Afterward, Ms. Boyle complained that the lab lacked bite kits and an adequate communication system to summon help. She also said lab officials refused to call an ambulance, which forced her to walk several blocks to UPMC Presbyterian with her hand wrapped in a towel and covered with a garbage bag. She received stitches, underwent three hand surgeries and experienced recurring infections, which extended her hospital stay to eight days.

She suffered bone, tendon and nerve damage to her right hand.

"I think they deserved to be fined because of the lack of protective equipment and bite kits," Ms. Boyle said. "And I was never told about the aggressive monkeys until I found out by being grabbed and bitten. I don't think I had enough hands-on training."

Since her hospital release, she said, she's been undergoing rehabilitation to restore feeling in her fingers and function to her hand. In her most recent rehab session, her therapist listed a 45 percent disability in the injured hand. Ms. Boyle said she still can't open bottles with her right hand or turn the ignition key to her car, among other limitations.

Although required to return to work full time, she said she's hired an attorney to contest her ability to perform her assigned duties.

Upon her return to work, she said, the university put her through training, had placed bite kits throughout the lab, provided protective gloves and taken other safety measures to comply with requirements.

Lab officials also have placed warnings on the cages of aggressive monkeys and installed protective cage coverings to prevent bites. For now, she has yet to resume caring for the 30 macaques housed in the lab for use in tuberculosis research.

"All in all, I believe they have tried hard to meet compliance so that my situation doesn't ever happen to other staff members," Ms. Boyle said.

The university uses primates to develop vaccines with a focus on dengue, a virus transmitted by mosquito bite; influenza; avian flu; and tuberculosis.