Investigation and analysis of the biosafety awareness of laboratory staff involved in the detection of pathogens in seven provincial Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in China

This study aims to evaluate the biosafety awareness of laboratory staff working on pathogens detection in seven Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and support these staff's biosafety management and training.A total of 208 laboratory staff from seven provincial CDCs were chosen by stratified random sampling to undergo a self-administered questionnaire survey.The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0.The overall average biosafety awareness of the CDC laboratory staff involved in pathogen detection was 82.5 points.The average biosafety awareness score was the highest in health monitoring(92.63 points)and the lowest in risk assessment and control(41.6 points).Among the seven provincial CDCs,the Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory staff showed the lowest average biosafety awareness score(74.3 points).The team who worked for 5–14 years were more likely to score above the passing score(≥88 points;corrected OR 0.400,95%CI:0.168–0.951)than the staff with less than five years of work experience.In addition,the mid-level and junior-level staff,as well as the lower position ones were more likely to score below the passing score(<88 points;junior level and lower:corrected OR 3.473,95%CI:1.028–11.737;mid-level:corrected OR 2.797,95%CI:1.027–7.618)compared with the senior-level staff.Among the surveyed team,66.3%identified a lack of specific funds related to work,61.5%identified a lack of designated personnel for the laboratory biosafety management.The biosafety awareness in CDC laboratory staff involved in pathogen detection is low,especially regarding risk assessment and control.The biosafety awareness in Guizhou and Guangxi Provincial CDC laboratory staff is also low.Laboratory funding,job title,and years of experience in a laboratory influence biosafety awareness in CDC laboratory staff.The biosafety knowledge,education,and training of CDC laboratory staff involved in pathogen detection need to improve by paying attention to the content and coverage of biosafety training,exploring new training modalities,and increasing funding for activities related to biosafety in CDC.

Immunological considerations for laboratory staff and COVID-19 biosafety

The vulnerability of healthcare and laboratory to potential infection by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)virus has thus far been analyzed through the lens of the acute phase of the pan-demic,including remote-based work,as well as emergency settings that are different from routine healthcare operations.However,as lockdowns ease and activities return to an identifiable pre-pandemic routine,the safety considerations also require to shift accordingly.As laboratory workers are likely to continue being exposed to unidentified SARS-CoV-2 positive samples through routine blood collection and processing opera-tions,coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)might have to be re-considered as an occupational disease within this context.Additionally,as per many such occupational diseases,a surveillance system is implemented for the medium-and long-term.This manuscript presents the views on the possible surveillance scenarios for labora-tory staff,viewed from an immunological and biosafety perspective.