2021 Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 47-53
Prefectural and municipal public health institutes have tested human samples, such as blood and urine, of patients with chemical food poisoning to analyze the harmful substances present in them. Because these samples may contain pathogens, guidelines for their treatment are required to prevent sample-mediated infections in microbiological laboratories. We developed a biosafety guideline for physical and chemical laboratories to establish biosafety strategies, wherein we suggested that the inspection status and sampleborne infection risk in the determination of infectious samples at each institute should be considered. Additionally, we listed the important elements to be considered while establishing the handling and management methods for preventing the accidental exposure to infectious samples while performing physical and chemical experiments. These elements assess the exposure risk of each process in the physical and chemical experiments, select the handling method according to the risk, provide the personnel with instructions on biosafety, consider the infection prevention measures, such as vaccination to the person in charge, supervise and record the performance of inspections, and establish the protocols for dealing with the accident. In this study, the handling and management methods at one institute could be established in accordance with this guideline. In the institute, wet human samples are decided to be treated as infectious samples based on standard precautions, while dry human samples can be treated in the same way as food and environmental samples. The guideline would be useful in treating infectious samples in physical and chemical laboratories.
