Wuhan BSL-4 Lab Built Within Framework of China-France Cooperation; Staff Visited France, the United States, Australia for BSL-4 Training-Capacity Building
11 Saturday Apr 2020
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags
BSL-4 lab, China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Ebola, flu, France, France mortality rate Covid-19, Galveston, Jean Mérieux-Inserm Laboratory, lethality Covid-19, Lyon, NIAID, NIH, novel coronavirus, One Belt One Road, SARS, SARS-CoV-2, Sino-French Cooperation Agreement on Emerging Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control, Texas, United States, West Nile, Wuhan National Biosafety Lab
“Photographs of the Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) training laboratory
for China’s Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory (Level 4) of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences. The training laboratory is designed to simulate
working conditions in a BSL-4 laboratory. A) Inside the BSL-4 training
laboratory, where trainees safely learn to use necessary equipment such
as air connections ports and biosafety cabinets. B) Trainees wearing
positive pressure suits practice skills in the BSL-4 training
laboratory.”
The lab was planned after the 2003 SARS epidemic. The current pandemic is actually SARS version 2.
Covid-19 coronavirus, which is really SARS-Cov-2, has a mortality rate of almost 15% in France (in Lombardy, Italy, it is around 18%). https://dashboard.covid19.data.gouv.fr/
“Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)…
From a taxonomic perspective SARS-CoV-2 is classified as a strain of the
species severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2
“Official names have been announced for the virus responsible for COVID-19 (previously known as “2019 novel coronavirus”) and the disease it causes. The official names are: Disease coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it
SARS has escaped from labs multiple times (Singapore, Taiwan, China): https://thebulletin.org/2014/03/threatened-pandemics-and-laboratory-escapes-self-fulfilling-prophecies/
“After the 2003 SARS epidemic, the government of China initiated a plan to construct a national high-level biosafety laboratory system to prepare for and respond to future infectious disease outbreaks. One of the goals was to build a BSL-4 laboratory that meets the national and international standards for diagnosing, researching, and developing antiviral drugs and vaccines while additionally preserving highly pathogenic BSL-4 agents for future scientific research. Within the framework of the Sino-French Cooperation Agreement on Emerging Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control (2) signed in October 2004, China constructed its first BSL-4 laboratory, the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory (Level 4) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2015. During construction, prospective BSL-4 laboratory staff members visited France, the United States, or Australia for BSL-4 training and capacity building. After 2 years of testing and commissioning, Wuhan BSL-4 laboratory passed a series of assessments, and the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment certified it as meeting the highest biosafety standard in January 2017 (3). In August 2017, the National Health Commission of China approved research activities involving Ebola, Nipah, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses at the Wuhan BSL-4 laboratory (4)…
According to China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, the chance that exotic pathogens could be brought into the country has dramatically increased (7). Our new BSL-4 facility will play an integral role in preventing and controlling highly pathogenic microbes. To safely operate this facility, we designed a training program that ensures all personnel meet the institutional, national, and international standards for working in maximum-containment laboratories.
In preparation for the opening of the Wuhan BSL-4, we engaged in short- and long-term personnel exchanges focused on biosafety training through international cooperation (8). Four staff members visited the P4 Jean Mérieux-Inserm Laboratory in Lyon, France; 2 visited Galveston National Laboratory, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, USA; and 1 visited the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia for training and certification on BSL-4 laboratory operations, maintenance, and scientific or support work. These members are now the main instructors for our BSL-4 laboratory user training program.
Rather than being standardized, our training is specialized to fundamentally cover different BSL-4 users, including administrators and management, biosafety professionals, operations and maintenance staff, and researchers and technicians who currently work in the laboratory. The theoretical coursework is designed to help trainees understand the features of the BSL-4 laboratory and prepares them to enter the laboratory environment. We constructed the first BSL-4 training laboratory in China with the sole purpose of providing hands-on practicum for staff. This laboratory gives staff a safe environment in which they can learn all routine and emergency procedures of high-containment laboratories without the risk of exposure to dangerous pathogens. In addition, we developed an online training management software tool to support the training program and track participants’ progress towards certification. Excerpt from “Biosafety Level 4 Laboratory User Training Program, China By Han Xia, Yi Huang, Haixia Ma, Bobo Liu, Weiwei Xie, Donglin Song, Zhiming Yuanhttps://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/25/5/pdfs/18-0220.pdf
Spain is producing the most useful Covid-19 Coronavirus/SARS Cov-2 statistics that we’ve found. On p. 7 is the lethality of the disease for different European countries. The most recent update was apparently before France’s most recent update was posted: https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov-China/documentos/Actualizacion_71_COVID-19.pdf
Galveston National Lab 2012:
“As one of two National Biocontainment Laboratories constructed with
funding awarded in October 2003 by the National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/NIH), the
GNL provides much needed research space and specialized research
capabilities to develop therapies, vaccines, and diagnostic tests for
naturally occurring emerging diseases such as SARS, West Nile encephalitis and avian influenza – as well as for microbes that might be employed by terrorists.
Products likely to emerge from research and investigations within the
GNL include novel diagnostic assays, improved therapeutics and treatment
models, and preventative measures such as vaccines.” https://archive.li/0goy
2019: https://archive.li/0CR8I
“The initial 2 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection (2019 novel coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) in Zhoushan were diagnosed in 2 teachers (persons A and D) from the same department at a college that had sponsored an academic conference on January 5, 2020. A 45-year-old teacher from Wuhan (person W) arrived on January 5 for the conference and joined persons A and D on January 6 for dinner, where they ate from common serving plates. After returning to Wuhan on January 7, person W experienced the onset of fever, cough, sore throat, and malaise on January 8. He visited a local hospital where, according to the patient’s self-report, he was confirmed to have COVID-19 by a local office of the Chinese CDC. For person A and D, the only known potential exposures for SARS-CoV-2 were their dinner and conference attendance with person W (Figure”). Excerpted from here: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/20-0198_article
Biosafety Level 4 Laboratory User Training Program, China
https://archive.li/USZK1
Emerging Infectious disease published by the US government so is in the public domain: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/page/submit-manuscript
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento