A Stick Type Filter Unit for Prevention of Biohazard in a Research Laboratory

Abstract

It is important to prevent unexpected laboratory infections in a biosafety area. It, is recommended that extreme caution should be used when handling needles and syringes to avoid autoinoculation, and that needles and syringes should be used only when there is no alternative. To remove cells and cell debris, a disk-type microfilter unit, which is recommended using a needle, has been used for filtrating supernatant from HIV-1-infected cell cultures. We compared a stick-type microfilter unit, which can be used without a needle, with a disk-type one for their safety and recovery of human immunodeficiency virus particle after filtration. To confirm the right of our comparison, we observed the filter electron microscopically for the virus particles and virus suspensions were carried out and discussed. In conclusion, the stick-type filter should be improved, since the filter unit is inferior to the disk-type filter unit in purification of the virus, but for the safety is superior to the disk-type.