Expert speaks: Understanding bio-safety levels

Purnungba Longkumer
Dimapur, May 30 (EMN): Bio-safety levels (BSL) are a series of protections relegated to autoclave-related activities that take place in biological labs. They are individual safeguards designed to protect laboratory personnel, as well as the surrounding environment and community.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, veterinary microbiologist at ICAR-NRC on Mithun in Jharnapani, Dr. Lalzampuia Atea, informed that BSLs are selected based on the agents or organisms that are being researched in a laboratory setting. The labs are designated depending on the risk associated with the pathogen that causes the disease.

The BSLs are ranked from one to four.

Atea informed that BSL-1 is the simplest form of bio-safety level laboratories and is called an open lab. Non-lethal agents that pose minimal potential threat to lab workers and the environment like the organism E coli, which do not cause any serious illness, are mostly researched in this lab.

BSL-2 covers laboratories that work with agents associated with human diseases (i.e. pathogenic or infectious organisms) that pose moderate health hazard. “Still those organisms which cause diseases can be handled in BSL-2 lab, which is also a lower risk and it cannot be transmitted to others,” he informed.

While BSL-3 are for microbes that are either ‘indigenous or exotic and can cause serious lethal disease through inhalation,’ he said. The microbes come as a high community risk as well as to those individuals handling the microbes.

“The organism has the potential to cause threat to the whole community,” he informed and added that BSL-3 lab also works on bacteria that cause tuberculosis.

According to the microbiologist, BSL-3 lab must be maintained properly as it works on contagious microbes, which are highly communicable.

BSL laboratories are functional depending on the regulations given by international organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Every country or state have their own regulation but they mostly follow the WHO and CDC regulation, he added.

A BSL-2 lab can handle organisms that are worked on in BSL-3 labs provided that the required infrastructure to contain the organism is built in the BSL-2 lab, he informed.

Atea added that BSL-2 labs are not supposed to handle live virus or sample containing the virus, as it is “high risk for the individual and community”.

The BSL-2 can handle only inactivated virus, from the point of sample collection, which is inactivated by chemical or other treatment.

BSL-2 can possibly handle high risk pathogens provided the person handling the sample virus is well trained. “They should know how to tackle the risk and even if there is a breach, one must know how to control the situation,” Atea said.

He also shared that infrastructure is important but in the end, it depends on the person who is handling the virus samples. They must be well-trained and well-equipped, he said and added that the bases of the safety procedure is more important even if they have all the ‘sophisticated equipment.’

There will be a risk of installing BLS lab of higher level in case there is a breach of the virus, he informed but if they follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) and all the safety guidelines properly, there is nothing to worry.

“Not only in the line of medical research or during this pandemic, anything can happen but it does not mean that they have to stop what they are doing,” he said.

Atea also said that it is ‘high time’ that everyone follows the government guidelines.