In which countries there are more and more laboratories with high levels of biosafety
The largest number of laboratories with high levels of biosafety is concentrated in Europe, such as that of Wuhan, and they continue to increase in the world. That's where
High-level biosafety laboratories, such as the one in Wuhan, that study pathogens that could cause epidemics or pandemics are on the rise. This was stated by a research by King's College London, according to which their number grows when the risk of bioterrorism attacks or pandemics is greater.
The news in itself shouldn't alarm because studying and preventing cannot be negative but the fact that this is happening without a general strengthening of the supervision of biological risk management and in countries with relatively low scores in terms of governance and stability, for experts, is cause for concern.
Another matter is represented by the gain of function , i.e. those techniques which in virology foresee the modification of viruses, making the pathogens more dangerous.
THE LEVELS OF THE WORKSHOPS
There are four levels of biosafety in laboratories, which in increasing order indicate the extent of the risk, i.e. the more dangerous the pathogen that is handled, in terms of transmissibility and infectivity, the higher the biosafety level of the laboratory and the greater are the protection and biocontainment measures to be put in place.
HOW MANY WORKSHOPS ARE THE BSL4
In 2021, there were 59 BSL4s in operation, under construction or planned in 23 countries. Earlier this year, the report said, that number had increased by ten to 69 labs. There are currently 51 BSL4 laboratories in operation, 3 under construction and 15 planned, all spread across 27 countries.
75% of existing operational ones are located in cities, where population density could exacerbate the impact of an accidental lab leak .
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 9 countries have announced their intention to build 12 new BSL4 laboratories and experts have observed that this number generally increases in conjunction with particular events. For example, this happened with the SARS epidemic in Asia in 2003 and with the anthrax letter phenomenon in the United States in 2001.
WHERE THE NEW WORKSHOPS WILL BE SITUATED
Most of the new BSL4 laboratories will be built in Asia and for five of these countries it will be a first time. Among the states that have announced their willingness to proceed are Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Singapore and India, which alone is planning 4, to add to the 2 already existing.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF BSL4 IN THE WORLD
Therefore, considering the BSL4 laboratories in operation, under construction or planned, we learn that with 26 BSL4 laboratories, one under construction in the United Kingdom and one planned in Spain, the greatest concentration is in Europe.
Asia has 20, of which 11 are planned in China, India, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Japan.
There are 15 in North America, with one under construction in the US and 2 planned in Canada and the US. Oceania has 4 BSL4 laboratories, all operational and located in Australia.
Africa has 3, of which 2 are operational in Gabon and South Africa and one under construction in the Ivory Coast. In South America, a BSL4 laboratory is planned in Brazil.
WEAKNESSES OF BSL4 HOST COUNTRIES
Finally, the study measured the biological risk management capacity of the various countries in which these structures are or will be present. To do this, they evaluated criteria such as the legislation on the matter, the response plans for any incidents or the methods of training staff.
In general, the countries were more ready from the point of view of biosecurity, i.e. in preventing accidental exposure or release of pathogens, compared to biosecurity, i.e. in preventing the misuse of dangerous agents.
In particular, Australia, Canada and France are at the top of the biosafety ranking, joined by the United States in the biosecurity ranking.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/in-quali-paesi-ci-sono-sempre-piu-laboratori-ad-alti-livelli-di-biosicurezza/ on Mon, 27 Mar 2023 12:25:29 +0000.