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p Thanx to the Totally Informed Author: JW
Biosafety Procedures This information is for players and Group Operations Director's who have characters with Biohazard Training and/or science/medicine backgrounds. Included is a General Information section (READ: Things the Director can have malfunction to cause problems for the characters.) (Editors note: I like the way this Author thinks...Mu-hahaha) US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases's (USAMRIID) mission is medical defense. It conducts research into ways to protect soldiers from biological and chemical weapons, and natural diseases. The Institute specializes in biocontainment, vaccines, and drugs. The CDC works nationally and internationally to promote and monitor health, investigates disease outbreaks and containment, and researches disease and illness prevention. General Information about Biosafety Procedures Airflow In all medical buildings working with various biosafety levels, the labs are set up under something called "negative air pressure" That means all the air flows inward into the facility. If there is an air leak, the air will flow deeper into the facility rather than into the outside world. The air in the building is pumped into stacks in the roof, which are filled with Hepa Filters. These filters catch and remove virus and bacteria particles. The clean air is then safely discharged into the outside world. The labs that hold the most hazardous materials are usually physically located in the center of the facility. Doors to labs are sealed, forming a series of air locks throughout the facility. When a door is opened, it sticks a bit at first, and then a small whooshing sound is heard as the door unsticks. People can noticeably feel the air move past them and into the room. Proper air balance is very important in laboratories. This is especially true for LabTech's working under a safety cabinet or a " hood". A malfunction in air balance and flow can contaminate the air around personnel. Working with materials may be done under a "hood" also called a safety bench.A hood is a stainless Steel table, encased on three sides by metal and plastic shielding. The open side is where the technician works. There is a plastic shield in front of where the technician sits that can slide up and down. The technician has to move slowly as to not do disturb the airflow in the hood. Air moves into the hood and either moves up through a vent and passes through a hepa filter, or is sucked into a vent at the front edge of the hood, where the technician is working, and then circulated through filters. The purpose is to keep potentially contaminated air away from the lab technician and the environment outside the hood. Trained technicians would usually notice when the airflow is disturbed by a malfunction in the air handling system, and would take proper precautions.
All surfaces of the lab must be washable. Lab areas are decontaminated by spraying bleach, alcohol solutions, or a special virus-killing fluid like Envirochem or Bluechip. Contaminated material is sterilized by a process called Autoclaving. Autoclaving is done by pressure steaming the material in a special sealed vat, at temperatures usually at around 180'C, although that can range depending on the pressure. Autoclaves range in size from small portables to large enough to require their own room at a Facility. Contaminated material, ranging from laboratory equipment to lab animal bedding to tissue and whole carcasses, are placed in special biohazard bags which withstand the intense heat, a measured amount of water is added, and the bags are loosely sealed with tape or rubber bands to allow the steam to escape. If an autoclave is not immediately present in the lab, the materials must be sprayed thoroughly with a decontaminating liquid, put in a secondary container and brought to the Autoclave room in the facility. Once the material is autoclaved and rendered sterile, it is disposed of according to regulation, usually incinerated. All laboratories must be equipped with emergency safety showers, sinks, and eyewash stations which are manipulated by foot pedals. In B-3 facilities the shower is located outside in the staging area. The sinks are located in the lab right near the staging area door. In a B-4 facilities these stations are located outside the actual lab in the staging areas. Material that is flushed down drains in BH-3 and BH-4 labs are rendered inert with bleach or another virus-killing liquid before being going into a drain. Pipes are secured with backflow guards. There are numerous procedures on how to deal with a compromised lab or a spill, such procedures generally follow containment and decontamination. I will not list the procedures here. Other The animals used in medical testing are always handled very cautiously and gently. A bite or scratch from an animal can be very bad for the technician. Monkeys used for testing should have their front canines filed down or removed, but sometimes this doesn't happen. Monkeys are very dangerous to deal with. Strong, agile and very flexible, an angry monkey with his canines is not something any technician looks forward to dealing with. Biosafety Levels Biosafety Level 1 Level one requires no special design adjustments beyond those suitable for a proper laboratory environment. Containment cabinets are not required and most work can be done on a benchtop. Laboratory personnel wear lab coats and safety glasses, and latex gloves. Biosafety Level 2 Persons working in a level 2 environment wear lab coats, safety glasses or goggles, and latex gloves. The sleeves of the jacket are tucked into the gloves. Hair is tucked up under a medical cap, a surgical face mask may be worn, and the feet are covered in fabric slipover booties. This is to minimize possibility of contamination to people handling the material, and also protected the material from being contaminated from the dust and dander that is on people. Work is done under a safety cabinet, or hood, as described above in General Information.Biosafety Level 3 A series of vaccinations is required, depending on what the technician would be working with. In addition to the hepatitis vaccination, one may also be vaccinated against Q fever, Yellow Fever, Rift Valley Fever, the WEE, VEE, and EEE complex, which are brain viruses that live in horses, anthrax, botulism, and tularemia, for some examples. Personnel must have a staging area to dress before entering the B-3 lab. The emergency safety shower is located in the staging area. Technicians wear full tyvek suits, face shields or helmets, boots and are double-gloved. They occasionally wear respirators or surgical masks, depending on the work and contamination level. HIV is handled in B-3 facilities Biosafety Level 4 The B-4 facility is where lethal viruses are handled, such as Ebola and hantavirus. There are several stages to going in and leaving a B-4 suite. It is policy in the labs for there to be an entry log for any personnel entering a B-4 facility. There is a usually a two person minimum required to enter a B-4 lab. B-4 suites are set up in series of staging areas before one enters the working B-4 facility. These areas consist of dressing and decontamination rooms. The following is an example of a B-4 suite and procedures at USAMRIID, at Ft. Detrick, Md. Personnel start out in a small, sterile room with a few lockers. They must remove all and any jewelry, including wedding rings. They undress completely, even undergarments. These clothes are placed into a locker. They re-dress in medical scrubs, and tuck the hair under a surgical cap. There is a door in this room, leading into Level 2. The door will stick a little because of the air pressure. There will be a suction sound as the door is opened, and people will feel the air moving by them into the Level 2 room. This room contains a shower stall bathed in Ultraviolet Light. The genetic material of a virus is destroyed under UV light. Personnel will find socks in this room to wear. There are also boxes of latex gloves. Once the gloves are on, the cuffs of the scrubs are tucked under the gloves and are further sealed by running a strip of sticky tape around the cuff of the glove attaching it to the sleeve, forming an airtight barrier. Socks are also taped to the cuffs of the pants. Sticky tape is very all purpose, and is also used to seal and holes in a biohazard suit, or to seal up a door or window by covering cracks with the tape. The tape in a very important defense against viruses. Next, personnel move into an antechamber where Chemturion space suits hang on racks. These suits are pressurized, heavy duty plastic suits that meets government specs for working with hot agents. They are bright blue, and are also called "blue suits". Each person on site and qualified for B-4 work gets their own suit, and is responsible for it's upkeep, safety checks and maintenance. The suits are complete with boots and thick gloves that are attached by gaskets, and a full face helmet which is made of softer plastic and is lowered on the head and attached to the suit, with a nozzle at the top for the airhose to be plugged in. The suit zippers up the front. Once technicians are suited up, they move out of the room and enter an air lock called the "grey area". this is a room that separates the outside world from a hot zone, the P-4 suite. The airlock is stainless steel, lined with nozzles for spraying water and decontamination chemicals. A P4 suite is painted with a thick epoxy paint, or sealed with non-shrinking sealant. Outlets and holes are also sealed over with this gobby material to completely seal the room from the outside world. There are air hoses dangling from the ceiling, and when it is plugged in to the Chemturian suit, the suit fills with air and balloons up. It does this as another defense against contamination. The air blowing out and away from the body does not allow any virus particles to drift onto the person in the suit, should there be a leak in the suit. It is very hard to hear teammates in the suite, because the air is rushing into your helmet. You have to shout to be heard. Outside communication is done through a phone line, or by passing written communication a special kind of paper through a tray of envirochem from the lab into a staging/observation area. The tray is sealed on both sides, and closes one end when the other opens, much like the trays at drive through Bank Teller windows in America. Animals that have died of a suspected hot agent, or lab animals used in hot work are autopsied in the B4 suite. In some labs, there are live monkeys in the Ebola suite used for medical testing of the virus. Sharp instruments are forbidden in the suite, to bring down the risk of puncturing the suit or the technician. Autopsies in a hot suite are carried out with blunt-nosed scissors instead of scalpels, and pliers called a "rongeur", (means "gnawer" in French) to crack the skull open instead of a Sryyker bone saw that is normally used in autopsies to open the skull. The saw would throw up bone dust, and an infectious aerosol can be dangerous, even in secured lab conditions. Other blunt autopsy tools, like Hemostats, which are used to clamp off and bleeding, are also allowed in the suite. There are always trays and bottles of a liquid called Envirochem on hand. Envirochem is a pale green liquid, like Japanese Green Tea. It completely destroys viruses. Technicians working on a hot autopsy are constantly breaking and rinsing their blood covered gloves in envirochem. Decon for P4: Persons enter back into the air lock room and pull a chain that begins the decon shower. The suit is sprayed with water and Environchem for several minutes. Technicians then move out of the airlock, remove their suit, and shower down in the UV shower. The scrubs are disposed of after every visit into the facility. On-Site Work: For work not in a facility, People wear RACAL suits. They are orange space suits. RACAL suits are fully portable, lighter than Chemturian suits, have their own air supply and breathing apparatus that attaches to the suit. The suit, with the exception of the breathing airblower and helmet, is disposable. It is possible to set up a makeshift biosafety facility using sticky tape, plastic tents and tarps to create makeshift decon and showers, people deconning out are sprayed down or bathed in a tub of bleach, jik, or envirochem), "gray zones", airlocks, makeshift labs and even a temporary morgue. Military Terminology: HOT: lethally infective, biologically speaking HOT AGENT: a lethal biological HOT ZONE: a place where lethally infectious biologicals are HOT SUITE: a P4 suite DECON:: Decontamination CRASH AND BLEED OUT: (massive) hemorrhaging through the orifices, subsequently dying of shock HATBOX: also known as Ice cream container. Biohazard container of cylindrical shape made from waxed cardboard. NUKE: To biologically render a place completely sterile. SLAMMER: The P4 hospital containment level at USAMRIID. People suspected of contracting lethally infectious agents, are placed in quarantine to wait out their incubation period to see if they caught the virus. People usually have behavior changes under these conditions; paranoia, depression, anxiety are not uncommon developments. For this reason, everything, even phone calls are monitored. SUBMARINE: The P4 morgue at USAMRIID. It is called the Submarine because the main Door is of heavy steel and looks like the pressure door in a sub. Human Autopsies are handles in the Submarine THE INSTITUTE: Slang for USAMRIID BURN: For a hot agent to move through an area an an explosive rate, killing a large percent of the population. Technically known as "Explosive Chain of Lethal Transmission" General Terminology: AMPLIFICATION: the spreading or growth of a virus in a body (or Host) or several bodies. Also REPLICATION: "self-directed copying" (R.Preston) of a virus EXTREME AMPLIFICATION: The growth (multiplication) of virus everywhere in a host, partially transforming the host into pure virus. BUBBLE STRETCHER: Biocontainment "pod" used for transportation of a patient infected with a hot agent HOST: living organism that serves as food supply to a virus or parasite STERILIZATION: Complete destruction of all living organisms. Nearly impossible to verify success after carrying out a sterilization. SENTINAL ANIMAL: Canary in the coal mine. An animal known to be susceptible to an agent, placed in suspected hot areas as an "alarm" if it comes down with a virus or disease. There is no way to detect a hot agent through any medical or technical instruments. Sources: Richard Preston: "The Hot Zone", "The Cobra Event" Biosafety Guidelines @ University of Toronto CDC/NIH's Biosafety Guidelines WebPage Also see: Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services.
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