Health committee You'd have to know how you would define a level 3 pathogen. What's the definition? A level 2 pathogen in the wrong host is going to cause a disease more severe than a level 3 pathogen. So somebody who has C. difficile colitis is at much greater risk of dying than somebody who has
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee Chicken. You can go to the Dominion and—
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee Yes. I think it's important to recognize that these level 2 pathogens can be obviously pathogens. But you have a greater risk of getting an E. coli infection barbecuing chicken at home than a technologist has working in a laboratory. I mean, these are organisms that are in our en
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee You can't do it without adding DNA. I just can't imagine such a situation other than in a research laboratory. That would not apply to 99.9% of laboratories that this would impact.
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee It's pretty similar. Again, you have to be careful whether it's biosecurity or biosafety. A level 3 organism like microbacteria in tuberculosis is a biosafety issue; it's not a bioterrorism/biosecurity issue.
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee It's probably pretty equivalent.
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee I wouldn't be able to answer that.
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee It might have been a post-9/11 concern, and as a result of the Patriot Act in the U.S. I think there was also a concern after SARS, that we really didn't know what labs had the virus and where they were in the country. The concerns were raised that we really weren't tracking pa
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee In those examples, it's the host, not the lab, that is the risk. We all carry those organisms to some extent on our bodies, and it's when the wrong set of circumstances occur that it's allowed to cause disease, whether it's from taking an antibiotic and getting C. difficile colit
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee No.
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low
Health committee Yes. Thank you. It's really critical that we separate biosecurity and biosafety. There is concern about biosecurity so that you know there's control over the pathogens you are working with, and those fall into risk groups 3 and 4. Biosafety is something all of us, as medical mic
March 10th, 2009Committee meeting
Dr. Don Low