In-house Assembled Protective Devices in Laboratory Safety in Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory of a COVID-19 Dedicated Hospital (original) (raw)
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medRxiv, 2020
Background: Health Care Workers (HCWs) of diagnostic laboratory handling COVID positive samples are at risk and need to take protective measures. Many protective materials were not available when the pandemic reached India forcing laboratory managers to take innovative measures to protect the laboratory staffs. Methods: We made face shields from OHP sheets and substitute of biosafety cabinets from cardboard boxes fitted with hypochlorite spraying devices. Here we present if these two in-house developed safety devices when incorporated in standard operating procedure (SOP) of laboratory safety were effective in clinical biochemistry laboratory of dedicated COVID hospitals. Results: We assessed contamination of laboratory surfaces (n=6) and rate of SARS-nCov-2 positivity from their nasal and throat swab by RT-PCR among laboratory personnel (n=18) after 14 days of their use along with other routine safety devices like use of gloves, surgical masks, OT gowns etc. These HCWs were checked...
Review of Scientific Instruments
The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a global public health emergency. Adherence to biosafety practices is mandatory to protect the user as well as the environment, while handling infectious agents. A biological safety cabinet (BSC) is the most important equipment used in diagnostic and research laboratories in order to safeguard the product, the person, and the environment. The World Health Organization has emphasized the use of validated BSCs in order to ensure quality of the results. There are different classes of BSCs that are used in various work environments based on the need. It is imperative to use appropriate levels of biosafety and types of BSCs in laboratories based on the risk assessment of the pathogen used. During the development of COVID-19 laboratories and training of laboratory staff, we came across several queries about the functions and selection of BSCs and realized that the knowledge about the detailed information on selections and applications of BSCs is scanty. There are several guidelines regarding the biosafety aspects for diagnostic and research laboratories handling infectious pathogens from national and international agencies. However, there is no detailed information on the use of appropriate types of BSCs and their functions in the context of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In view of this, the present paper describes in detail the selection and applications of BSCs, which could be useful for laboratories handling or planning to handle SARS-CoV-2 and suspected samples.
Protective measures for COVID-19 for healthcare providers and laboratory personnel
TURKISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, 2020
In the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects the whole world, healthcare professionals (HCP) are at high risk of transmission due to their direct contact with patients with COVID-19. Therefore, how to ensure the triage of the patient with acute respiratory symptoms should be determined in advance, the contact distance should be arranged to be at least 2 m, COVID-19 suspect or diagnosed patient should be instructed to wear a surgical mask. During the care of these patients, HCP should wear their personal protective equipment (PPE) in accordance with the procedure and should not neglect hand hygiene. The samples of the patient with known or suspected COVID-19, patient should also be known to be risky in terms of contamination, and a risk assessment should be performed for the procedures to be performed in laboratories. The PPE should be used in accordance with the procedure to be performed. The protection of the HCP, who sacrifice at the risk of life, is possible only by complying with infection control and precautions.
2020
The 2019 Coronavirus pandemic which was initially referred to as 2019-nCoV, was first identified in Wuhan, China. Early response from the Chinese government included quarantine of infected persons, isolation and total lockdown of Wuhan province to prevent further spread. With the spread of the disease across national borders and declaration of the disease as a global pandemic, there has been a robust response by the international community to contain this deadly virus and prevent its further spread worldwide. Africa is not left out of this rampaging pandemic with documented cases in over 40 countries and still rising. Although extensive studies have been carried out on the novel SARS-CoV-2 on its pathogenesis, mode of infection and virulence but much is still unknown. However, potentially infectious samples are received routinely in the medical laboratory for analysis. This technical note reviews good laboratory practice (GLP) and processes across the different specialities of Medic...
WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual: A New Approach to Security
Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2022
The paper aims to highlight the new indications introduced in the 4th edition of the "Laboratory Biosafety Manual" of World Health Organization. The authors propose a new vision to improve biosafety and biosecurity in the laboratory aligned with the technical standards ISO 35001:2019 "Biorisk management for laboratories and other related organizations" and ISO 45001:2018 "Occupational health and safety management systems-Requirements with guidelines for use" framework. The current edition has a more innovative approach compared to the previous ones, more attention is given to training awareness and providing skills, to promote the culture of safety by adopting an approach based on risk analysis, rather than the prescriptive approach that has been used previously.
Laboratory diagnosis and management of COVID-19 cases: creating a safe testing environment
BMC Infectious Diseases, 2021
Background: COVID-19 disease has had a profound impact worldwide since it was discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Laboratory testing is crucial to prompt identification of positive cases, initiation of treatment and management strategies. However, medical scientists are vulnerable to infection due to the risk of exposure in the laboratory and the community. This study sought to determine the awareness of laboratory safety measures, assess the personal efforts of medical scientists in creating a safe laboratory environment for testing and examine the laboratory safety enabling factors. Methods: The data used for the study were generated among medical scientists in Nigeria through an internetbroadcasted questionnaire and were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 25). Results: The majority of the respondents had a high awareness of laboratory safety measures (60.3%) and demonstrated good personal efforts in creating a safe laboratory testing environment (63%). The level of awareness of laboratory safety measures was significantly associated with respondents' level of education (χ 2 = 6.143; p = 0.046) and influences respondents' efforts in creating a safe laboratory testing environment (p = 0.007). However, just a few respondents could convincingly attest to the availability of adequate and appropriate PPE with proper utilization training (45.1%), adequate rest and other welfare packages (45.8%) as well as access to appropriate Biological Safety Cabinets (BSCs) and other essential equipment in their laboratories (48.8%). Furthermore, a significant association existed between the availability of laboratory safety enabling factors and respondents' efforts in creating a safe environment for testing with the p-value ranging between < 0.0001 and 0.003. Conclusion: This study revealed that despite the high awareness of safety measures and good personal efforts of the study participants in creating a safe laboratory-testing environment, there was poor availability of safety facilities, equipment, support and welfare packages required to enhance their safety. It is, therefore, crucial to provide necessary laboratory biosafety equipment and PPE in order not to compromise medical scientists' safety as they perform their duties in COVID-19 pandemic response.
Le infezioni in medicina, 2020
Bloodborne pathogens represent a major hazard for healthcare workers (HCWs) and exposure prevention still represents the primary strategy to reduce the risk of occupational bloodborne pathogen infections, such as hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Each healthcare organization should have simple and easy-to-apply operating procedures (OPs), quickly accessible to their personnel, including educational programmes, written protocols for prompt reporting and procedures for correct evaluation, counselling, treatment and follow-up of occupational exposure. From a careful review of literature data and international recommendations, in this study we summarize the recommendations to follow in the event of occupational exposure to HIV, HBV and HCV, also providing tables and a flowchart, that are simple to apply and could be a guide, especially in moments of apprehension caused by the occurrence of an occupational accident due to biohazard, in whi...
KnE Life Sciences
Several tests have been developed for Covid-19 diagnosis. One of these tests is a PCR examination with a swab sample. The infection transmission risk to health workers during swab sampling is very high so an adequate protection standard is paramount. A special PPE for Covid-19 specimens’ collection that is safer and can be used for a long time needs to be developed. The study aims to develop a prototype safe facility for collecting Covid-19 specimens with a high level of biosafety standard to prevent infection transmission, ergonomic, and can be used for an extended time. Applied research methods were used to produce a safety partition for Covid-19 specimen collection. The result was a safety partition prototype named KOPIDShield. It is completely impermeable to prevent the transmission of infectious agents from patients to health workers. It is equipped with supporting equipment that allows accurate specimen collection. Keywords: biosafety, Covid-19, health_ worker_protection, pers...
Objective: Biosafety is an important element of quality management systems in laboratory practice as it is a measuring tool for compliance with accreditation and certification standards. Our aim was to assess the practices of laboratory personnel towards biosafety measures in their respective laboratories. Methods: The study design was a quantitative and qualitative cross sectional prospective one obtained with the use of a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done with Epi Info version 3.4.1 and was presented using frequency tables with chi square calculated for different variables with the significant p value set at ≤ 0.05. Results: There were 63 respondents in the study. Private laboratories fared better in an assessment of their biosafety practices. Comparative variables identified as unsafe biosafety practices between public and private laboratories were non availability of Hepatitis B virus antibody testing, p value 0.01, odds ratio 5.4, consuming food in the laboratory, p value 0.00, odds ratio 0.2., non-use of N95 masks p value 0.04, O.R 3.9 and biosafety cabinet use p value 0.05, O.R 2.8. Discussion: Biosafety practices in Nigeria need to be streamlined in accordance with good laboratory practices in order to forestall workplace accidents and promote a safe environment for testing of clinical human samples. Conclusion: The absence of appropriate biosafety policies and practices is one of the challenges facing health care workers in sub Saharan Africa. There is the need for biosafety to be placed in the front burner of issues in laboratory practice in our respective facilities.