SEA-PHAGES | Legal statement

Link to this post \| posted 10 Jan, 2024 09:45
jcaoyao@gmail.com	Happy New Year SEA PHAGES Community, Does anyone know where to find the ultimate, legal, and foolproof statement on whether Mycobacterium abscessus clinical strains can be handled in a BSL1 lab (and if there is any leeway* at all allowed)? All I know is pathogens that do not cause illness to healthy humans belong to BSL1 lab, and pathogens like tuberculosis that can cause illness to healthy humans belong to a BSL2 lab, but I would need a specific confirmation for M. abscessus. For example, I have a BSL1 lab where there is biosafety cabinet of Class 2 that is functional though its air velocity may not be as high as it used to be because it is quite old. There are also Bunsen burners in the lab for working with M. abscessus* on the bench. Much obliged! Edited 10 Jan, 2024 18:13

Link to this post | posted 10 Jan, 2024 09:45

Happy New Year SEA PHAGES Community,

Does anyone know where to find the ultimate, legal, and foolproof statement on whether Mycobacterium abscessus clinical strains can be handled in a BSL1 lab (and if there is any leeway* at all allowed)? All I know is pathogens that do not cause illness to healthy humans belong to BSL1 lab, and pathogens like tuberculosis that can cause illness to healthy humans belong to a BSL2 lab, but I would need a specific confirmation for M. abscessus.

*For example, I have a BSL1 lab where there is biosafety cabinet of Class 2 that is functional though its air velocity may not be as high as it used to be because it is quite old. There are also Bunsen burners in the lab for working with M. abscessus on the bench.

Much obliged!

Edited 10 Jan, 2024 18:13

Link to this post \| posted 10 Jan, 2024 21:18
DanRussell	Hi Juan Carlos, Here in the Hatfull Lab at the University of Pittsburgh, all of our clinical M. abscessus isolates are classified as BSL-2, and for good reason. Sometimes an apparently "healthy human" may have undiagnosed or non-obvious issues, and treating an opportunistic pathogen as "harmless" is dangerous. As for the "ultimate, legal, foolproof" statement, that probably doesn't exist. BSL guidelines are set by your institution, and we at Pitt follow guidelines set by Pitt, the CDC, NIH, strain collections, etc. Different schools, countries, or organizations may have different rules, but we always expect all SEA-PHAGES schools to abide by appropriate BSL regulations in their region. We've had real safety concerns recently, as some SEA-PHAGES schools have tried phagehunting on bacteria they've isolated from the environment. While this offer a different phage yield, allowing students to work with an unknown bacterium and treating it as BSL-1 is not endorsed by the SEA-PHAGES program! –Dan Edited 10 Jan, 2024 21:37

Link to this post | posted 10 Jan, 2024 21:18

DanRussell

Hi Juan Carlos,

Here in the Hatfull Lab at the University of Pittsburgh, all of our clinical M. abscessus isolates are classified as BSL-2, and for good reason. Sometimes an apparently "healthy human" may have undiagnosed or non-obvious issues, and treating an opportunistic pathogen as "harmless" is dangerous.

As for the "ultimate, legal, foolproof" statement, that probably doesn't exist. BSL guidelines are set by your institution, and we at Pitt follow guidelines set by Pitt, the CDC, NIH, strain collections, etc. Different schools, countries, or organizations may have different rules, but we always expect all SEA-PHAGES schools to abide by appropriate BSL regulations in their region.

We've had real safety concerns recently, as some SEA-PHAGES schools have tried phagehunting on bacteria they've isolated from the environment. While this offer a different phage yield, allowing students to work with an unknown bacterium and treating it as BSL-1 is not endorsed by the SEA-PHAGES program!

–Dan

Edited 10 Jan, 2024 21:37

Link to this post \| posted 10 Jan, 2024 21:29
jcaoyao@gmail.com	Most thankful for your wonderful explanation, Dan! It does make sense. So having a Class 2 Biosafety Cabinet wouldn't make your lab a BSL2, and therefore, allow you to handle M. abscessus?

Link to this post \| posted 10 Jan, 2024 21:38
DanRussell	jcaoyao@gmail.com Most thankful for your wonderful explanation, Dan! It does make sense. So having a Class 2 Biosafety Cabinet wouldn't make your lab a BSL2, and therefore, allow you to handle M. abscessus? Right, it's definitely more complicated than that! (At least for us at Pitt.)

Link to this post \| posted 10 Jan, 2024 21:46
jcaoyao@gmail.com	Thank you very much.

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