Architectural and Engineering Controls in Mycobaterial Laboratories

ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING CONTROLS IN

MYCOBACTERIAL LABORATORIES

ISSUE:

Biosafety Engineering Controls in Clinical Mycobacterial Laboratories

BACKGROUND:

There is a heightened national concern about bio-safety in Clinical Mycobacterial

laboratories. Dr. Ted F. Beals, M.D. Acting Director, Pathology and Laboratory

Medicine (111 F) has collected data on whether current VA laboratories which

process Mycobacterium tuberculosis conform to the BSL3 guidelines. The BSL3

is a biosafety level guideline recommended by Center for Disease Control (CDC)

and National Institutes of Health (NIH) in CDC/NIH publication "Biosafety in

Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories", 3rd Edition, May 1993.

DISCUSSION:

VA has developed and circulated a planning document "Program and Facility

Planning Guidance for Tuberculosis Programs dated August 18,1995" for

effectively planning and implementing a tuberculosis program. This document was

prepared by a task force headed by Dr. Gary A. Roselle, M.D. Program Director

for Infectious Diseases, VACO. This document does not address the issue of

engineering controls to implement a BSL3 biosafety level for clinical mycobacterial

laboratories. However, our engineering criteria for typical laboratories in the

HVAC Design Manual for Hospital Projects meet all requirements for a BSL3

Laboratory except for items 1, 2, 9 and 10 stated in

Recommendations/Conclusion below.

RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION:

For new construction or major renovation of clinical mycobacterial laboratories

the following architectural and engineering controls are recommended as per

CDC/NIH guidelines.

1. The architectural and mechanical drawings shall identify the areas requiring

BSL3 compliance. The areas shall be identified based on discussions with the

medical center personnel including Pathology.

3 June 1997

FM-187C-DA49

Index