Biosafety Recommendations for the Contained Use of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Isolates in Industrialized Countries.

Abstract

Abstract Staff working in microbiological diagnostic and research laboratories is likely to be exposed toinfection risk with pathogens. Among human infectious diseases, tuberculosis is one of the mostsevere, killing 2 millions people worldwide every year. M. tuberculosis is essentially an airbornepathogen included in Risk Group 3 according to the international classification. It is transmitted viaaerosols or less frequently by accidental inoculation. The definite diagnosis of tuberculosis relies onthe isolation and identification of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in clinical specimens.The incidence of this infectious disease among laboratory personnel involved in tuberculosisdiagnosis is known to be three to nine times higher as compared to personnel manipulating otherclinical specimens. This significant threat must be correlated with the resurgence of tuberculosis. Asmost developed countries, Belgium has adopted strict biosafety rules for the contained use of humanpathogens in laboratories. However, due to the airborne transmission way of