Biosafety Level precautions

It is an aerobic, gram-negative, motile, nonsporing, rod-shaped bacterium. It can survive for many months in surface water and up to 3 months in shaded soil. The natural reservoir is soil and water. This is a biosafety level 2 agent. Additional primary containment and personnel precautions may be indicated for activities with a high potential for aerosol or droplet production. 

It is normally found only in Australia. The natural reservoir is fruit bats (Pteropus species), however, there is no evidence of direct transmission from bats to humans. Special precautions should be taken when examining a horse suspected of having the disease or performing a necropsy. Although it is not considered highly communicable, this is an enhanced biosafety level 3 agent. 

Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) Similar to Biosafety Level 1 and is suitable for work involving agents of moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment. Required practices are BSL-1 practices plus limited access, biohazard warning signs, sharps precautions, and a biosafety manual defining any needed waste decontamination or medical surveillance policies. 

High-titer (e.g., >107 pg p24 antigen/mL by ELISA or 108 transduction units (TU)/mL) lentivirus, stored at —80°C in 1.5 mL centrifuge tubes in 10-20 pL aliquots. Thaw and store on ice during surgery procedure. Do not freeze-thaw more than twice. Handle lentivirus using Biosafety Level 2 precautions. 

Biosafety Level II precautions should be used for specimens from patients suspected of Y. pestis infection. Biosafety Level III precautions are needed only if extensive work with infected specimens is expected. Strict isolation should be maintained for all patients suspected of Y. pestis infection. Gowns, gloves, masks, and eye protection should be worn for at least the first 48 hours of treatment. 

Tularemia is extremely infectious in aerosol form. Laboratory personnel have contracted inhalational tularemia simply by examining an open culture plate. Biosafety Level 11 precautions should be used for initial evalua-... 

Table I summarizes the practices necessary for four biosafety levels of containment of plants. Biosafety level 1 would be similar to a standard greenhouse, with the containment precautions becoming more strict at higher levels. The IBC would recommend the appropriate containment level for each experiment and will be responsible for assuring that the principal investigator adheres to the approved practices for that project.

These procedures are carried out at Biosafety Level 2. The proper institutional guidelines should he followed before using retroviruses. When handling retroviruses observe the following safety precautions ... 

Since P. aeruginosa faUs under biosafety level 2, proper safety precautions must be followed during the large-scale production of rhamnohpids. Bioprocess for pilot-scale production of rhamnohpids and downstream processing has been explained by Reiling et al. which is shown in Figure 14.2. 

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