Biosafety and biosecurity is everyone's business

Lapses in biosafey have lead to the outbreaks of foot and mouth in the UK and equine influenza (EI) in Australia. Luckily both of these diseases, while devastating for some industries, do not affect human health.

The biosafety breaches in the UK appear to have occurred in a research facility while in Australia, the outbreak seems to have originated from a horse(s) held in quarantine.

Retired high court judge, Justice Ian Calinan has been appointed to conduct an independent enquiry into the entry and spread of equine influenza in Australia. Until this outbreak, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland were the only countries to have been free of horse flu.

Equine flu is a highly contagious viral disease which spreads rapidly through all equine species. Most horses fully recover from the disease but some foals or old horses do die. The biggest impact is on the racing and hence gambling industries.

Australia was well prepared to cope with an outbreak of equine flu. The Australian Veterinary Emergency Plan (Ausvetplan) 'Disease Strategy Equine Influenza' Version 3.0 is at 'Proof for approval' stage in 2007. Ausvetplan is a series of technical response plans that describe the proposed Australian approach to an emergency disease incident. The documents provide guidance based on analysis, linking policy, strategies, implementation, coordination and emergency-management plans.

Unfortunately, the document does say that "International experience suggests that EI could potentially be introduced to Australia by imported horses if quarantine procedures are inadequate. However, Australia's current stringent quarantine requirements for importation of live horses mean that the introduction of EI virus by this means is unlikely."

The report does emphasise that "the importance of indirect transmission between establishments by people, horse transport vehicles and contaminated equipment cannot be overstated".

Once suspected, a diagnosis of EI is made in the laboratory by viral isolation; by detection of viral antigen from nasopharyngeal swabs, nasal swabs or nasal or tracheal washings; or by serology. A Laboratory Preparedness Manual includes full details about how specimens should be collected, chilled and transported.

In Australia, the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong is responsible for the emergency disease testing. Specimens are initially sent to the state or territory diagnostic laboratory and then transported to AAHL for analysis.

The Ausvetplan 'Management Manual Laboratory preparedness' has a format of a laboratory contingency plan for exotic disease emergencies which includes the following checklist:

• This Contingency Plan is an extension of the procedures that apply for normal laboratory operation. During formulation and review of the Plan, deficiencies in the standard operating procedures can be identified and rectified. It is less disruptive to tighten up sound low-risk routines with which laboratory staff are familiar, than to impose a completely new set of procedures in an exotic disease emergency.
• The Plan should be reviewed annually. The plan and particularly its security components, can be tested regularly, with minimum disruption to normal laboratory operations.
• The Plan is an 'active' document. It is stored on computer and updated following annual testing and review.
• The Plan should be readily accessible to laboratory staff. All staff should be familiar with the current Plan as they are with other manuals of standard operating procedures within the laboratory (eg, Occupational Health and Safety Manual; Standard Operating Procedures: Laboratory Methods).
• The Plan contains sufficient information and instructions under each heading for all laboratory staff to understand what is required of them. It is a plan of specific activities and not simply a list of principles.
• The Plan is comprehensive and self-contained. Copies of relevant information from other sources (eg, departmental circulars, other publications) and completed examples of all forms that must be used (eg, Shippers Declaration for Dangerous Goods) are included as Appendixes A-I to make the Plan a 'one-stop shop' for laboratory staff in the event of an exotic disease emergency.

Is it time to review your laboratory's biosecurity, biosafety and emergency plans?