What is Ebola?
Ebola is an infectious disease that is generally fatal. It causes symptoms such as fever and severe internal bleeding, and is spread through contact with infected body fluids.
Bio Safety Level 1 (Used for Bacteria that is not known to cause disease) Safety & PPE
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Examples of agents or specimens used: B. subtilis, S. cerevesiae, non-pathogenic E. coli. Bio Safety Level 2 (Agents: associated with human diseases of varying severity) Safety & PPE
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Examples of Agents Used: Hepatitis B and C, HIV, S. typhoid, human retroviruses, S. aureus. Bio Safety Level 3 (Agents that cause serious or potentially lethal disease through inhalation route of exposure/aerosols ) Safety & PPE
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M. tuberculosis, SARS Bio Safety Level 4 (Dangerous exotic agents which post high individual risk of aerosol-transmitted laboratory infections that are frequently fatal, & that have no vaccines, cures, or treatments.) Safety & PPE
Facilities Usually, BSL 4 laboratories are in separate buildings or a totally isolated zone with dedicated supply and exhaust ventilation. Exhaust streams are filtered through high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, depending on the agents used. Examples of Agents used: ZEBOV, SEBOV, EBO-R, Lassa Fever Virus |
WORKING IN THE LABIn the Lab there are many safety precautions you need to take with any bacterial or viral specimens you may encounter. To make sure you follow proper protocol, review the following Bio safety levels.
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How it relates to the hot zone by Richard PrestonBiosafety and Bio containment levels relate to The Hot Zone because they play a major role in the research completed on Ebola. In the book, it describes the multiple biosafety levels. It also explains the bio containment level that a person would go to if they got infected by an infectious agent, this was called "the slammer". The agents they call "Hot agents" refer to those that are biosafety level 4 agents, which are extremely dangerous, and pose high risks of fatalities to those who are infected.
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