Ambroise Kouame Kintossou , Stephanie Villar , Zisis Kozlakidis
{"title":"Immunological considerations for laboratory staff and COVID-19 biosafety","authors":"Ambroise Kouame Kintossou , Stephanie Villar , Zisis Kozlakidis","doi":"10.1016/j.bsheal.2023.03.001","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>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 pandemic, 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 operations, 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 laboratory staff, viewed from an immunological and biosafety perspective.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":36178,"journal":{"name":"Biosafety and Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9984229/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biosafety and Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590053623000241","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
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 pandemic, 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 operations, 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 laboratory staff, viewed from an immunological and biosafety perspective.