1. Define and give examples of a biocrime. 2. Define and give examples of select agents. 3. Site two laws that govern the possession of select agents. 4. List the government agencies that must be notified, by registration, before a laboratory may possess a select agent. 5. State the components of a biosecurity plan. 6. Summarize the standard operating procedures required for laboratories that maintain select agents. 7. Diagram and give a brief description of the Laboratory Response Network. 8. Outline the steps microbiology laboratories must follow if a select agent is isolated from a clinical specimen. 9. Explain the requirements for operation as a sentinel laboratory. 10. Name the government agencies responsible for the investigation and management of a bioterrorism event. The bombings at the World Trade Center in 1993 and the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 led Congress to pass the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. Section 511 (d) restricts the possession and use of materials capable of producing catastrophic damage in the hands of terrorists by requiring their registration. A companion law, the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001 prohibits any person to knowingly possess any biologic agent, toxin, or delivery system of a type or in a quantity that, under the circumstances, is not reasonably justified by prophylactic, protective, bona fide research, or other peaceful purpose. Later, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 required institutions to notify the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) or the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) of the possession of specific pathogens or toxins called select agents. Therefore, clinical laboratories possessing any select agents must register with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a branch of the DHHS. Violation of any of these statutes carries criminal penalties. The pathogens and toxins classified as select agents are listed in Box 80-1. List is updated as needed. Each clinical laboratory should have a bioterrorism response plan. The plan should include policies and procedures to be enacted when a suspicious isolate cannot be ruled out as a biothreat agent. If a laboratory has any questions about isolating, identifying, or submitting an organism that may be an agent of bioterrorism, laboratory personnel should call the state public health laboratory. The select agent must be either sent to a public health laboratory or destroyed within 7 days of identification. If the agent is autoclaved, its destruction must be documented using Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)/CDC Form 4, which can be downloaded at www.selectagents.gov/CDForm.html.
Sentinel Laboratory Response to Bioterrorism
Government Laws and Regulations
Biosecurity
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