Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
GENERAL BIOSAFETY
CONSIDERATIONS
occasional problems but not to the degree seen in rodent
facilities (
Fontes, 2008
).
Thousands of workers have had direct contact with
numerous species of nonhuman primates, their blood,
tissues, and products over recent decades, and thousands
more have had direct exposure to nonhuman primate
pathogens, natural and experimental, known and
unknown. It is important to note that the recorded inci-
dence of serious injury, morbidity, and mortality is
remarkably low in relation to the number of individuals at
risk. Indeed, occupational hazards associated with
nonhuman primates may be characterized as low risk in
nearly all cases but have the potential for grave conse-
quences should certain infections, exposures, or accidents
occur.
INTRODUCTION
Historical Perspectives
Biosafety is defined as the application of knowledge,
techniques, and equipment to prevent personal, laboratory,
and environmental exposure to potentially infectious agents
or biohazards. Nonhuman primates have been recognized
as serious threats to human life and health by the research
community since the 1930s. Numerous documented cases
of human illness and death have been directly and
indirectly related to pathogens transmitted from these
animals and to other hazards associated with their care
and use.
In 1932, a physician died from encephalomyelitis. This
was the first of 16 deaths to occur over the next 40 years
that had a documented relation to bites inflicted by clini-
cally normal macaques infected with a herpesvirus. After
1973, no cases were seen until the late 1980s when there
were seven human cases with two deaths attributable to
Herpesvirus simiae. Over the years, hundreds of human
cases of tuberculosis have been attributed to contact with
nonhuman primates. Scores of human cases of hepatitis A
have been related to contact with chimpanzees. Laboratory
personnel, many of whom work with nonhuman primates,
have an incidence of hepatitis B seven times greater than
that of the general population (
Singh, 2009
). In 1967, 31
human cases, seven fatal, resulted from infection with the
newly recognized Marburg virus, which was transmitted to
workers from African green monkeys.
In the last three decades, highly fatal epizootics of
simian hemorrhagic fever, simian retrovirus D, and filovi-
rus infections in nonhuman primate colonies have caused
serious concerns to workers, especially during illnesses and
die-offs of large numbers of animals. In recent years there
have been a number of reports documenting the potential
for some of these agents such as simian foamy virus to
infect zoo workers (
Khan, 2009
) and other primate handlers
(
Switzer et al., 2004
). There is a lack of surveys conducted
to monitor the undetected transmission of some of the most
common nonhuman primate diseases. As far as can be
determined, these simian diseases have not caused signifi-
cant human morbidity or mortality.
Physical injury to workers inflicted by nonhuman
primates has been, and likely still is, quite widespread.
Improvements in cage design, use of safe anesthetics,
improvement in training programs, and funding of
specialized facilities have greatly reduced the chance for
injuries and associated exposures to nonhuman primates
diseases. Allergies to nonhuman primates have caused
Laws, Regulations, Policies, and
Recommendations
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) mandates that employers shall provide and main-
tain a safe and healthy working environment for employees.
A number of OSHA regulations apply to the biomedical
research field including standards for chemical hygiene,
anesthesia gases, formalin, ethylene oxide, respiratory
protection, and blood-borne pathogen protection and should
be a part of the compliance literature library at any insti-
tution (
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 29
CFR 1910.1030, 1910.132, 1910.1047
). Numerous other
regulations, laws, policies, recommendations, and guide-
lines affect nonhuman primate facilities and programs such
as the Animal Welfare Act, Public Health Service policy,
and “The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory
Animals” (
Clark, 1996
).
Importation and quarantine of nonhuman primates
brought into the USA are regulated by the Division of
Foreign Quarantine, a component of the Centers for
Disease Control, Public Health Service. One mission of this
division is to safeguard the health of people in the USA,
including those in contact with nonhuman primates, by
preventing the introduction of pathological agents from
outside the USA. The appearance of filovirus in monkeys at
several nonhuman primate importation facilities in
1989
e
1990 prompted the publication of guidelines for
handling nonhuman primates during transit and quarantine
(
Centers for Disease Control, 1990a
). The regular inspec-
tion of importation facilities and rigorous regulation of this
industry has reduced the number of registered facilities but
has also resulted in very well run operations with a subse-
quent reduction in morbidity and mortality in quarantine
animals (
Roberts and Andrews, 2008
).
Deaths attributable to Herpes simiae (herpes B virus)
infections of people exposed to macaques in 1987 promp-
ted the publication of guidelines for proper handling to
