Tropical Laboratory Safety Including Biosafety

Dear Colleagues,

The frequent outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases in recent years have raised concerns over the preparedness of the animal-health and human-health communities in responding to outbreaks of novel infectious diseases. The biosafety and biocontainment in laboratories, required to handle infectious agents, is presently well recognized as a necessary infrastructure in infectious diseases preparedness and response.

The requirement for biosafety and biocontainment infrastructure in microbiology laboratories and animal facilities to appropriately and safely handle pathogens is a fundamental of providing a safe workplace and external environment. These issues are magnified in the tropics and in other low-resource environments laboratories where capacity to implement a safe working environment with a relation to infectious materials and chemicals is often limited by a lack of knowledgeable staff, poor safety culture and reduced access to financial resources.

Furthermore, the need for hospitals laboratories and allied diagnostic facilities to meet minimum biosafety requirements of the International Health Regulations as well as national biosafety and biosecurity regulations and legislation presents a constant challenge to laboratories in low resource and tropical regions. Often, this is compounded by issues relating to a lack of sustainability of biocontainment laboratory design and construction, as well as the financial and technical needs relating to ongoing laboratory maintenance requirements.

The development of regional biosafety resources and provision of the biosafety cabinet services, equipment and supplies related to biosafety management, trainings and technical assistance on biosafety-related issues also presents an ongoing challenge to laboratory management, national governments and international donor organisations

Specific issues that may be suitable in this Special Issue may include, but are not limited, to

• Low-resource laboratory safety including biosafety and chemical safety
• Renewable and low energy laboratory design including sustainable aspects of construction and maintenance
• Biosafety and biocontainment levels and their relevance in tropical and low resource environments
• Issues relating to primary and secondary biological containment including biological safety cabinets
• Suitability of Personal Protective Equipment in the tropics and in other low-resource environments
• Decontamination and disinfection in the tropics and in other low-resource environments
• Biosafety and Biosecurity regulations and legislation

We look forward to your provocative contributions on this interesting and important topic.

Prof. Stuart Blacksell
Guest Editor

Mr. Allan Bennett
Co-Guest Editor

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