Thread by @BillyBostickson

1. Transfer of Biological Samples from a BSL 3 Facility

A stern warning from Xavier Abad Morejón de Girón, Biosafety level 3 Laboratory Manager at CReSA – Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal, UAB-IRTA, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Spain

longdom.org/open-access/tr…

2. The Dangers

"improperly treated and therefore still infectious materials transferred out of a BSL3/4 facility could lead to potential proliferation of bio-weapons and increase the biohazard to the community"

3. Two Ways to Transfer

A biological sample can reach the outside of a BSL3
area in two ways: either without inactivation (infectious) if it must be transferred to another BSL3 facility

or

after undergoing an inactivation process to render the biological sample non-infectious

4. Transferring non-infectious samples (1)

1. Thermal procedures, inactivation by solvent or detergents, use of chaotropic agents, phenol: chloroform extraction procedures, desiccation on specially-treated papers & inactivation by fixation for anatomical pathology purposes

5. Transferring non-infectious samples (2)

2. the inactivation procedure relies on the capacity of the initial steps of current commercial nucleic acid extraction kits which many researchers & lab technicians consider to be viral or bacterial commercial inactivation kits.

6. Lysis Buffers

For example, the mixture of biological samples with lysis buffers (containing chaotropic agents at unknown concentrations) in addition to further thermal steps

In some cases BSL3 staff regards biological materials mixed with lysis buffers as non-infectious.

7. Guanidine

Manufacturers do not provide evidence of such effects in product data sheets & there is limited data in journals

it is difficult to compare inactivation capacity of lysis buffers because some claim to contain guanidine derivatives without specifying the amount

8. Guanidine (2)

There is neither proper documentation of exact compounds included nor their concentrations

Lysis buffers with guanidine have shown very disparate inactivation rates for a specific virus, making it impossible to draw general conclusions about all lysis buffers

9. If we accept that a lysis buffer is acceptable for inactivation of viruses in a BSL3/4 environment, without previous in house testing, and therefore allow those mixtures to be further handled in a BSL3 or BSL 2 lab, we increase the risk of laboratory acquired infections.

10. Conclusión

"In overview, the removal of inactivated samples from a BSL3 facility must be limited at a minimum, and avoided entirely whenever possible"

11. Heat treatment

Heat treatment of biochemical samples to inactivate Ebola virus: does it work in practice?

"We found that, in our hands, it was not possible to provide biochemical testing after heat treatment, as recommended by current guidelines"

hkmj.org/system/files/h…

12. Back to Wuhan (via @coroldo1)

Lax Biosafety Transport Procedures

This was how Wuhan unknown pneumonia contagious patients samples transported, yep, biosafety. Compared with 'metal box' via CRE......

https://twitter.com/coroldo1/status/1445755118155026441

13. WHCDC shipment to Shanghai

Tian Jun Hua of WHCDC shipped samples of pneumonia patients to Shanghai, wrapped up with animal samples, loaded on civilian train using CRE

No permit of contagious material shipping
No DGM certification of handling person

https://twitter.com/coroldo1/status/1444736856717889537

14. Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center (SHPHCC)

if SHPHCC Lab admitted they deliberately shipped the 7 Wuhan Pneumonia human samples & transferred via CRE without shipping permit of biohazardous material, that would be a biosafety protocol violation

https://twitter.com/coroldo1/status/1445445412492484620

unroll Transport of Pathogens @threadreaderapp

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