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Le infezioni in medicina, 2020
Bloodborne pathogens represent a major hazard for healthcare workers (HCWs) and exposure prevention still represents the primary strategy to reduce the risk of occupational bloodborne pathogen infections, such as hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Each healthcare organization should have simple and easy-to-apply operating procedures (OPs), quickly accessible to their personnel, including educational programmes, written protocols for prompt reporting and procedures for correct evaluation, counselling, treatment and follow-up of occupational exposure. From a careful review of literature data and international recommendations, in this study we summarize the recommendations to follow in the event of occupational exposure to HIV, HBV and HCV, also providing tables and a flowchart, that are simple to apply and could be a guide, especially in moments of apprehension caused by the occurrence of an occupational accident due to biohazard, in whi...
Occupational exposure and risk of acquiring the infections is a very serious issue and it plays an important role concerned to personnel safety in the laboratory. It is very much essential to emphasis on safety aspects for each personnel working in infectious laboratories. This review article provides an insight on bio safety practices to be followed for safe and effective functioning of the laboratory to prevent the occupational exposure.
Risk assessment is an important responsibility for directors and principal investigators of microbiological and biomedical laboratories. Institutional biosafety committees (IBC), animal care and use committees, biological safety professionals, and laboratory animal veterinarians share in this responsibility. Risk assessment is a process used to identify the hazardous characteristics of a known infectious or potentially infectious agent or material, the activities that can result in a person's exposure to an agent, the likelihood that such exposure will cause a LAI, and the probable consequences of such an infection. The information identified by risk assessment will provide a guide for the selection of appropriate biosafety levels and microbiological practices, safety equipment, and facility safeguards that can prevent LAIs. Laboratory directors and principal investigators should use risk assessment to alert their staffs to the hazards of working with infectious agents and to the need for developing proficiency in the use of selected safe practices and containment equipment. Successful control of hazards in the laboratory also protects persons not directly associated with the laboratory, such as other occupants of the same building, and the public. Risk assessment requires careful judgment. Adverse consequences are more likely to occur if the risks are underestimated. By contrast, imposition of safeguards more rigorous than actually needed may result in additional expense and burden for the laboratory, with little safety enhancement. Unnecessary burden may result in circumvention of required safeguards. However, where there is insufficient information to make a clear determination of risk, it is prudent to consider the need for additional safeguards until more data are available. The primary factors to consider in risk assessment and selection of precautions fall into two broad categories: agent hazards and laboratory procedure hazards. In addition, the capability of the laboratory staff to control hazards must be considered. This capability will depend on the training, technical proficiency, and good habits of all members of the laboratory, and the operational integrity of containment equipment and facility safeguards. The agent summary statements contained in BMBL identify the primary agent and procedure hazards for specific pathogens and recommend precautions for their control. The guest editors and contributors of this and previous editions of BMBL based their recommendations on an assessment of the risks associated with the handling of pathogens using generally routine generic laboratory procedures. A review of the summary statement for a specific pathogen is a helpful starting point for assessment of the risks of working with that agent and those for a similar agent.
European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, 2016
Laboratory-acquired infections due to a variety of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi have been described over the last century, and laboratory workers are at risk of exposure to these infectious agents. However, reporting laboratory-associated infections has been largely voluntary, and there is no way to determine the real number of people involved or to know the precise risks for workers. In this study, an international survey based on volunteering was conducted in biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories to determine the number of laboratory-acquired infections and the possible underlying causes of these contaminations. The analysis of the survey reveals that laboratory-acquired infections have been infrequent and even rare in recent years, and human errors represent a very high percentage of the cases. Today, most risks from biological hazards can be reduced through the use of appropriate procedures and techniques, containment devices and facilities, and the training of personnel.
Bioemergency Planning, 2018
Although not always the first topic discussed when preparing for a bioemergency, the availability of a competent clinical laboratory is vital for the optimal care of a patient with a risk group 4 (RG-4) high-consequence pathogen. The recent development of highly specialized facilities in the United States to assess and treat patients with highly hazardous communicable diseases has led to the design of dedicated laboratories or the redesign of laboratory space to safely process and test specimens that might contain one of these pathogens. For frontline and other acute care facilities to be prepared, safety practices need to be assessed and reviewed as necessary as pertaining to all laboratory activities, to include the pre-analytical (specimen collection and processing), analytical (specimen testing), and post-analytical (specimen disposal/waste management and reporting) processes. Laboratorians and administrative personnel need to consider the risks in handling specimens containing ...
On World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2006, the International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC) was ofÞ cially released and widely endorsed by several agencies and organizations. The ISTC release was the culmination of a year long global effort to develop and set internationally acceptable, evidence-based standards for tuberculosis care. The ISTC describes a widely endorsed level of care that all practitioners, public and private, should seek to achieve in managing individuals who have or are suspected of having, TB and is intended to facilitate the effective engagement of all healthcare providers in delivering high quality care for patients of all ages, including those with smear-positive, smear-negative and extra-pulmonary TB, TB caused by drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and TB/HIV coinfection. In this article, we present the ISTC, with a special focus on the diagnostic standards and describe their implications and relevance for laboratory professionals in India and worldwide. Laboratory professionals play a critical role in ensuring that all the standards are actually met by providing high quality laboratory services for smear microscopy, culture and drug susceptibility testing and other services such as testing for HIV infection. In fact, if the ISTC is widely followed, it can be expected that there will be a greater need and demand for quality assured laboratory services and this will have obvious implications for all laboratories in terms of work load, requirement for resources and trained personnel and organization of quality assurance systems.
Objective: Biosafety is an important element of quality management systems in laboratory practice as it is a measuring tool for compliance with accreditation and certification standards. Our aim was to assess the practices of laboratory personnel towards biosafety measures in their respective laboratories. Methods: The study design was a quantitative and qualitative cross sectional prospective one obtained with the use of a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done with Epi Info version 3.4.1 and was presented using frequency tables with chi square calculated for different variables with the significant p value set at ≤ 0.05. Results: There were 63 respondents in the study. Private laboratories fared better in an assessment of their biosafety practices. Comparative variables identified as unsafe biosafety practices between public and private laboratories were non availability of Hepatitis B virus antibody testing, p value 0.01, odds ratio 5.4, consuming food in the laboratory, p value 0.00, odds ratio 0.2., non-use of N95 masks p value 0.04, O.R 3.9 and biosafety cabinet use p value 0.05, O.R 2.8. Discussion: Biosafety practices in Nigeria need to be streamlined in accordance with good laboratory practices in order to forestall workplace accidents and promote a safe environment for testing of clinical human samples. Conclusion: The absence of appropriate biosafety policies and practices is one of the challenges facing health care workers in sub Saharan Africa. There is the need for biosafety to be placed in the front burner of issues in laboratory practice in our respective facilities.
Indian journal of Pathology and Microbiology, 2020
Declared as a pandemic by WHO on March 11, 2020, COVID-19 has brought about a dramatic change in the working of different laboratories across the country. Diagnostic laboratories testing different types of samples play a vital role in the treatment management. Irrespective of their size, each laboratory has to follow strict biosafety guidelines. Different sections of the laboratory receive samples that are variably infectious. Each sample needs to undergo a proper and well-designed processing system so that the personnel involved are not infected and also their close contacts. It takes a huge effort so as to limit the risk of exposure of the working staff during the collection, processing, reporting or dispatching of biohazard samples. Guidelines help in preventing the laboratory staff and healthcare workers from contracting the disease which has a known human to human route of transmission and high rate of mortality. A well-knit approach is the need of the hour to combat this fast spreading disease. We anticipate that the guidelines described in this article will be useful for continuing safe work practices by all the laboratories in the country.
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