Working in Biosafety Level 3 and 4 Laboratories

Mandy C. Elschner is a researcher at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute for Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses, Jena, Germany. She leads the working group "BSL 3-agents" and is the head of the Reference Laboratories for Glanders and Anthrax. She obtained her academic degree at the University of Leipzig and authored and co-authored in 25 national and international publications. Patrick Butaye is a senior researcher active at the Veterinary and Agrochemical Research center and a professor at the University of Ghent, Faculty of Veterinary medicine. He obtained his academic degrees at the University of Ghent. He authored and co-authored in more than 70 international scientific publications. Manfred Weidmann is a senior scientist at the Department of Virology of the University Medical Center Gottingen Germany. He obtained his degree from the Johannes-Gutenberg University of Mainz working on the pathogenesis of Clostridium difficille. Ever since he has worked on developing rapid diagnostic tools for the detection of arboviruses and haemorrhagic fever viruses in cooperation with partners from third world countries. He obtained the 2003 Abbot Diagnostic Award. He authored and co-authored 28 international scientific publications. Nigel Silman is the Strategic Coordinator for Research & Development at the Health Protection Agencys' Centre for Emergency Preparedness & Response at Porton Down in the UK. He is the HPA research lead for Diagnostics and Detection and also responsible for the scientific overview of specialist reference and contract microbiology services for a range of exotic & emerging infectious diseases. He has authored and co-authored 26 international scientific publications.

• AcknowledgementPrefaceIntroduction (Manfred Weidmann)Laboratory Biosafety in Containment Laboratories (Annette A Kraus and Ali Mirazimi)Hazard criteria and categegoisation of microbes: Classification systems (Nigel J. Silman)Technical and practical aspects of BSL-3 laboratories (Frank T. Hufert and Manfred Weidmann)Animal biosafety level 3 facility - enhancements when dealing with large animals (Abad F.X., Solanes D., Domingo M.)Personal Protective Equipment (Nigel J Silman)Shipping of infectious substances according IATA DGR regulations (Mandy Elschner and Martin Heller)Disinfection and decontamination (Patrick Butaye)Fumigation of Spaces (Nigel J. Silman)Learning from a history of laboratory accidents (Manfred Weidmann)Bridging the gap between requirements of bio-containment and diagnostics (Manfred Weidmann, Frank T.Hufert, Nigel Silman)Risk Assessment Procedures (Asa Szekely Bjorndal)Biosecurity (Juergen Mertsching)Appendix