Answer 1:
Biosafety Level Four laboratories are
used when scientists work with very dangerous
or very infectious diseases, such as
ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers.
Very strict methods are developed to make sure
no part of your skin EVER touches any infectious
agent. Just to be sure, scientists working in
Level Four laboratories take showers after leaving
the laboratory. Every part of your body that
might contact a sample of the disease or virus you
are working with is protected with protective
clothing or some sort of disposable barrier.
If the virus or disease you are working with is
NOT contained within special air-tight
chambers, you yourself are encased in an
air-tight suit, with your air supply coming
from an air-tight hose connected to a life-support
system, sort of like a scuba diver. This suit is
disinfected with a chemical shower before you
leave the laboratory. If you don't need to wear
the air-tight suit, you wear special laboratory
clothing (including underwear, pants, a shirt,
shoes and a lab coat) that is never removed from
the laboratory except for cleaning. Clothes are
decontaminated before being cleaned. You wear
gloves on your hands (often two or more pairs)
that are thrown away after use, and you protect
your shoes with plastic "booties" that are also
thrown away after each use, so that your shoes
never touch the floor. You also wear eye
protection (plastic goggles or safety glasses) and
a mask over your mouth, like surgeons wear. Most
importantly, air-tight suit or not, you never
touch the contaminated material directly, but
instead handle it with tools that are either
cleaned or thrown away.
The entire laboratory where you work is
contained within another laboratory, and as you
pass from the inner laboratory, where you were
working with the disease, to the outer laboratory,
which should be kept free of the disease, you pass
through a vacuum air lock that prevents any
air from the inside laboratory from escaping. The
clean space between the two laboratories has
changing rooms that allow you to remove used
clothes and throw away used material that might be
infected, and shower rooms, that allow you to take
a shower before putting on clean clothes. All of
the disposable material or anything that might be
contaminated is passed out of the laboratory by
way of a double-doored chamber, which is
decontaminated between each use. Material
is brought into the laboratory in the same way.
I couldn't find any information about what
happens if you do have an accident (the suit or
your gloves rip and you spill something on your
skin), but if I had to guess I'd say you would
soak the area for 20 minutes in disinfectant and
then take a shower. You'd probably have to be
quarantined and monitored for signs of disease for
several weeks, depending on the disease.
This information was taken from the National
Institute of Health and the Center for Disease
Control, which monitor the use of all infectious
material for research. Click Here to return to the search form.
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