Rajeev Ranjan*, Jitendra K Biswal, Jajati K Mohapatra, Shyam Singh Dahiya, Smrutirekha Mallick and Nihar Ranjan Sahoo

ICAR-Directorate of Foot and Mouth Disease, International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease, Arugul, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

*Corresponding Author: Rajeev Ranjan, ICAR-Directorate of Foot and Mouth Disease, International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease, Arugul, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.

Received: June 27, 2022; Published: July 29, 2022

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection emerged in Wuhan city of China, December 2019 and subsequently WHO announced COVID-19 pandemic. In the absence of effective antiviral drugs, change in genomic make-up which leads to evolution of new variant, effective biosafety measure in place, front line health care workers or laboratory personnel engaged in diagnosis and research are always at risk. As per the scientific risk assessments, the SARS-CoV-2 comes under Risk group 3 pathogens, and to prevent laboratory-acquired infections and disease transmission in the local population and environment, adequate biosafety containment levels are required. Therefore, non-propagative work and diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 with inactivated samples should be performed at least under Biosafety Level 2 (BSL2), while diagnosis with non-inactivated samples should be carried out under BSL3 or BSL2 with inward unidirectional air flow along with BSL3 safety equipments and work practices. However, SARS-CoV-2 culture and isolation, as well as research and development activities, must take place inside the BSL3 containment facility. We attempted to establish adequate and efficient biosafety strategies for avoiding SARS-CoV-2 infections within the laboratory. This may be accomplished by conducting a systematic and comprehensive biosafety risk assessment on a continuous basis in order to cope with evolving risks in the laboratory setting. Furthermore, the healthcare workers in hospital or researchers in the laboratories may be unaware of the possibility of aerosols and droplets mediated infection in the laboratory during the process of centrifugation, vortexing, pipetting, and so on, or by SARS-CoV-2 infected individual during the process of breathing, coughing and sneezing and that aerosolized virus may travel up to 1- 6 m. Therefore, aim of this review is to describe the importance of biosafety measures against SARS-CoV-2 that should be introduced in laboratories undertaking diagnosis/research on SARS-CoV-2/any mutant form of SARS-CoV-2 like omicron suspected samples.

Keywords: Laboratory; Biosafety; Research; Diagnosis; Risk Assessment; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19

References

1. Ahmed W., et al. "First confirmed detection of SARS-CoV-2 in untreated wastewater in Australia: A proof of concept for the wastewater surveillance of COVID-19 in the community". Science of the Total Environment 728 (2020): 138764.
2. Bai , et al. "Presumed Asymptomatic Carrier Transmission of COVID-19". JAMA 323 (2020): 1406-1407.
3. Banada , et al. "Containment of bioaerosol infection risk by the Xpert MTB/RIF assay and its applicability to point-of-care settings". Journal of Clinical Microbiology 48 (2010): 3551-3557.
4. "Interim laboratory biosafety guidelines for handling and processing specimens associated with SARS” (2003).
5. Ceraolo C and Giorgi FM. "Genomic variance of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus". Journal of Medical Virology 92 (2020): 522-528.
6. Chan , et al. "A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster". Lancet 395 (2020): 514-523.
7. Chen H.,et al. "Influence of Different Inactivation Methods on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 RNA Copy Number". Journal of Clinical Microbiology 58 (2020).
8. Chen L., et al. "Ocular manifestations of a hospitalised patient with confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus disease". British Journal of Ophthalmology 104 (2020): 748-751.
9. Chin AWH., et al. "Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental conditions". The Lancet Microbe 1 (2020): e10.
10. Colavita , et al. "SARS-CoV-2 Isolation From Ocular Secretions of a Patient With COVID-19 in Italy With Prolonged Viral RNA Detection". Annals of Internal Medicine 173 (2020): 242-243.
11. Day "Covid-19: identifying and isolating asymptomatic people helped eliminate virus in Italian village". BMJ 368 (2020): m1165.
12. Dhama K., et al. "Coronavirus Disease 2019-COVID-19". Clinical Microbiology Reviews 33 (2020).
13. Goff A., et al. "Fecal-Oral Transmission of COVID-19 in India". Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Community Medicine 6 (2) (2020): 18-19.
14. Huang C., et al. "Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China". Lancet 395 (2020): 497-506.
15. Kampf G., et al. "Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents". Journal of Hospital Infection 104 (2020): 246-251.
16. Khailany RA., et al. "Genomic characterization of a novel SARS-CoV-2". Gene Reports 19 (2020): 100682.
17. Kim JM., et al. "Identification of Coronavirus Isolated from a Patient in Korea with COVID-19". Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives 11 (2020): 3-7.
18. Kimball A., et al. "Asymptomatic and Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Residents of a Long-Term Care Skilled Nursing Facility - King County, Washington, March 2020". Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 69 (2020): 377-381.
19. Kratzel , et al. "Inactivation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 by WHO-Recommended Hand Rub Formulations and Alcohols". Emerging Infectious Diseases 26 (2020): 1592-1595.
20. Lauer SA., et al. "The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application". Annals of Internal Medicine 172 (2020): 577-582.
21. Li D., et al. "Clinical Characteristics and Results of Semen Tests Among Men With Coronavirus Disease 2019". JAMA Network Open 3 (2020): e208292.
22. Ma QX., et al. "Potential utilities of mask-wearing and instant hand hygiene for fighting SARS-CoV-2". Journal of Medical Virology 92 (2020): 1567-1571.
23. Malik YS., et al. "Emerging novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)-current scenario, evolutionary perspective based on genome analysis and recent developments". Veterinary Quarterly 40 (2020): 68-76.
24. Naqvi A., et al. "Insights into SARS-CoV-2 genome, structure, evolution, pathogenesis and therapies: Structural genomics approach. Biochimica et biophysica acta". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Basis of Disease 1866 (10) (2020): 165878.
25. Nathan N., et al. "Atypical presentation of COVID-19 in young infants". Lancet 395 (2020): 148
26. Nikoletseas "The significance of observed anosmia in COVID-19" (2020).
27. Ong , et al. "Air, Surface Environmental, and Personal Protective Equipment Contamination by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) From a Symptomatic Patient". JAMA 323 (2020): 1610-1612.
28. Park WB., et al. "Virus Isolation from the First Patient with SARS-CoV-2 in Korea". Journal of Korean Medical Science24 (2020):
29. Peeri , et al. "The SARS, MERS and novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemics, the newest and biggest global health threats: what lessons have we learned?” International Journal of Epidemiology 49 (2020): 717-726.
30. Peng L., et al. "2019 novel coronavirus can be detected in urine, blood, anal swabs and oropharyngeal swabs samples”. MedRxiv (2020).
31. Ranjan R. "RE: Laboratory test report data collected from COVID-19 confirmed positive by rRT-PCR". ICAR-International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. (2020).
32. Ronal M and Clifford N. "Evolution of the PDCA cycle". in: edu. Paper delivered to the Asian Network for Quality Conference in Tokyo (2009).
33. Santarpia JL., et al. "Aerosol and surface contamination of SARS-CoV-2 observed in quarantine and isolation care". Scientific Reports 10 (2020): 12732.
34. Sawicki SG., et al. "A contemporary view of coronavirus transcription". Journal of Virology 81 (2007): 20-29.
35. Sun J., et al. "Prolonged Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Body Fluids". Emerging Infectious Diseases 26 (2020): 1834-1838.
36. Tague NR. "Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle". The quality toolbox (2^nd edition.). Milwaukee: ASQ Quality Press: ISBN 978-0873896399. OCLC 57251077. (2005).
37. To , et al. "Consistent Detection of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in Saliva". Clinical Infectious Diseases 71 (2020): 841-843.
38. Van Doremalen N., et al. "Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1". The New England Journal of Medicine 382 (2020): 1564-1567.
39. Wang XW., et al. "Concentration and detection of SARS coronavirus in sewage from Xiao Tang Shan Hospital and the 309^th Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army". Water Science and Technology 52 (2005): 213-221.
40. WHO. "Biosafety guidelines for handling of SARS specimens" (2003a).
41. WHO. "Report of the review panel on new SARS case and biosafety. Biosafety and SARS incident in Singapore" (2003b).
42. WHO. "Report: First data on stability and resistance of SARS coronavirus compiled by members of WHO laboratory network" (2003c).
43. WHO. "Report: SARS case in laboratory worker in Taiwan, China" (2003d).
44. WHO. "Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)" (2003e).
45. "Laboratory Biosafety Manual" (2004).
46. "Guidance on regulations for the transport of infectious substances 2019-2020". (2019b) (Geneva: World Health Organization (2019).
47. “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces in non-health care settings” (2020).
48. Wolfel R., et al. "Virological assessment of hospitalized patients with COVID-2019". Nature 581 (2020): 465-469.
49. Zhu N., et al. China Novel Coronavirus Investigating and Research Team. “A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019". The New England Journal of Medicine 382.8 (2020): 727-733.

Citation

Citation: Rajeev Ranjan. “Biosafety Measures for the Laboratories Engaged in the Diagnosis/Research of SARS-CoV-2". Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 4.8 (2022): 190-204.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Rajeev Ranjan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.