History – Biosafety in Microbiology Laboratories

Microbiology laboratories are work environments where the team involved is at risk of being exposed to infectious diseases. There are cases described and published on typhus, cholera, brucellosis, among others, and all related to laboratories.

Meyer and Eddie, in the year 1941, published a survey where there were 74 cases of brucellosis in the United States, all of which were associated with the poor technique of handling infectious materials along with lack of care within the laboratory.

As early as 1949, it was Sulkin and Pike’s turn to bring up research on infections within laboratories due to accidents involving the handling of infected animals and tissues. There was a second study published by the same authors, Sulkin and Pike, where it was found that brucellosis was the most frequent infection found in laboratories, most of them related to the use of pipettes, syringes and needles. It is noteworthy that at the time, not all accidents that occurred in laboratories were reported.

All this context brings us the importance of biosafety, “a set of procedures, actions, techniques, methodologies, equipment and devices capable of minimizing the risks inherent in research, production, teaching, technological development and service activities, human health, animals, environment or the quality of the work involved “, a concept defined by Teixeira and Valle in 1996.

References:

• BRASIL. Ministério da Saúde. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Departamento de Vigilância Epidemiológica. Biossegurança em Laboratórios Biomédicos e de Microbiologia. 3. ed. Brasília: Editora MS, 2006.
• MEYER, K. F.; EDDIE, B. Laboratory infections due to Brucella. J Infect Disn, n. 68, p. 24-32, 1941
• SULKIN, S. E.; PIKE, R. M. Survey of laboratory-acquired infections. Am J Public Health,v. 41, n. 7, p. 769-781, 1951.
• TEIXEIRA, P.; VALLE, S. Biossegurança: uma abordagem multidisciplinar. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz, 1996.