Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity Quiz

Study Notes

The prayer is addressed to the Holy Spirit, the Divine Creator.
It seeks enlightenment and understanding, asking for grace in expressing oneself.
It requests guidance for work, directing progress and successful completion.
The prayer is made through Jesus Christ, acknowledging Him as true God and true man, forever and ever.
It concludes with "Amen."

The subject is Principles of Medical Technology Practice 1.
The outline covers history, different organizations, and concepts of laboratory biosafety and biosecurity.
Part II focuses on laboratory hazards and accidents, standard precautions, and safe use/storage of chemicals/reagents.
Part III covers the chain of infection, classification of microorganisms, and biosafety cabinets.
A learning outcome is to articulate the importance of biosafety and biosecurity in health sciences.

The model illustrates how pathogens are transmitted.
Components include microorganism, reservoir/source, port of exit, mode of transport, port of entry, and susceptible host.
Microorganisms are bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
Reservoir/source includes human, animal, air, food, soil, water, and equipment.
Port of exit includes secretions (e.g. saliva), excretions (e.g., urine, feces)
Modes of transport include contact, droplet, airborne, vector, and fomites.
Port of entry includes mucus lining, open wounds, respiratory/urinary tracts.
Susceptible host includes very young/elderly, those with chronic diseases, malnourished, and immunocompromised individuals.

Direct contact: Involves close proximity.
- Includes vertical transmission (mother to baby).
- Includes horizontal transmission (person to person).
Droplet spread: Respiratory particles (>5 micrometers) expelled, traveling short distances (<1 meter). These particles contain infectious agents, spread by sneezing, coughing, or talking.
Airborne: Droplet nuclei or airborne dust (<5 micrometers) spread over longer distances (>1 meter).

Common Vehicle Transmission: Infectious agents transmitted via an inanimate medium (soil, water, food, fomites).
- Waterborne: Pathogens spread through contaminated water (often untreated sewage).
- Soil-borne: Pathogens develop in soil, and susceptible hosts acquire them from the soil.
- Foodborne: Pathogens in foods (incompletely cooked, poorly refrigerated, or prepared unsanitarily).
- Fomites: Non-living objects that carry infectious agents.
Vector-borne transmission: Pathogens transmitted by an intermediary animal (e.g., ticks, fleas, mosquitoes).
- Mechanical vectors: Carry pathogens on their bodies; pathogens do not develop in vectors.
- Biological vectors: Host and breeding ground for pathogens; pathogens develop within the vector.

Classifications are based on agent's pathogenicity, mode of transmission, host range, availability of preventive measures, and treatment availability.
There are four risk groups, categorized by the risk of an infection occurring in both one person and the broader community.
Risk Group 1 involves agents not associated with human disease in healthy adults, with little or no risk.
Risk Group 2 involves agents associated with human disease, but these illnesses are rarely severe; treatments are generally available.
Risk Group 3 involves agents with significant risk to the individual and are often lethal.
Risk Group 4 involves agents that are frequently transmitted from person to person directly and are extremely risky and lethal.

BSL-1 has minimal risk and is appropriate for undergraduate and secondary teaching laboratories.
BSL-2 has a moderate risk and deals with common human pathogens.
BSL-3 poses a high risk to individuals but less so to the broader community, and involves pathogens that are frequently fatal and may spread through the air.
BSL-4 has an extremely high risk that poses lethality risk both for the individual and in the broader community, via aerosol route.

The blessing is from the Dominican order.
The prayer invokes God for blessings, healing, enlightenment, and guidance to carry out God's work.
It seeks the protection of the angel of peace and the gift of the kingdom.