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Laboratory Safety Practice
Security Standards of FMD Laboratory
OIE Guidelines for Laboratory Quality Evaluation
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There are three aspects of laboratory practice that are of particular relevance to FMD laboratories.
Quality Control
National FMD laboratories should operate internal quality control procedures and, where possible, participate in external quality assurance programmes run by national or supranational authorities. An outline of the appropriate measures that should be in place is given in the OIE Guidelines for Laboratory Quality Evaluation published by the OIE Standards Commission in September 1995.
Disease Security
Diagnosis of FMD carries a risk of transmission of disease due to manipulation of contaminated samples by laboratory staff who might subsequently have contact with susceptible animals. The greatest risk arises in situations where large amounts of virus are released from experimentally infected animals or when virus is grown up in bulk for vaccine production. Instances of escape of virus from laboratories has been recorded. Stringent disease security is therefore essential in FMD laboratories. The European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease, FAO, considered what requirements are necessary for laboratories handling FMD virus and, at the 30th Session in Rome in 1993, adopted the document Security Standards for FMD Laboratories. This sets out the minimum security standards that should be applied to laboratories handling live FMD virus, irrespective of the prevailing FMD situation in the country concerned.
Laboratory Safety
Laboratories are inherently dangerous environments and all necessary precautions should be taken to ensure that risks to staff are minimised by following a strict code of Laboratory Safety Practice.
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