Question

What is biosafety level 1 and 2?

Answer 1

Biosafety:

1. The prevention of harmful effects and incidents on a large scale due to any biological research is called biosafety.
2. The inclusion of standards and guidelines to be followed in the laboratory.
3. The main aim of biosafety is to periodically have a check on chemicals, biological agents, and radiation.
4. Biological Safety Levels (BSL) are a series of protections relegated to autoclave-related activities that take place in particular biological labs.

Biosafety Level 1:

1. Biosafety level 1 applies to laboratory settings in which personnel work with low-risk microbes that pose little to no threat of infection in healthy adults.
2. An example of a microbe that is typically worked with at a BSL-1 is a non-pathogenic strain of E. coli.
3. This laboratory setting typically consists of research taking place on benches without the use of special contaminant equipment.
4. A BSL-1 lab, which is not required to be isolated from surrounding facilities, houses activities that require only standard microbial practices.

Biosafety Level 2:

1. This biosafety level covers laboratories that work with agents associated with human diseases (i.e. pathogenic or infections organisms) that pose a moderate health hazard.
2. Examples of agents typically worked with in a BSL-2 include equine encephalitis viruses and HIV, as well as Staphylococcus aureus (staph infections).
3. BSL-2 laboratories maintain the same standard microbial practices as BSL-1 labs but also include enhanced measures due to the potential risk of the aforementioned microbes.
4. Personnel working in BSL-2 labs are expected to take even greater care to prevent injuries such as cuts and other breaches of the skin, as well as ingestion and mucous membrane exposures.