AY Honors/Biosafety/Answer Key
Biosafety
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1. Define the following terms:
a. Biosafety
Biosafety is defined as the discipline addressing the safe handling and containment of infectious microorganisms and hazardous biological materials; procedures intended to protect humans or animals against disease or harmful biological agents.
b. Biohazard
A biohazard is a biological substance that's dangerous to people or the environment. Many biohazards are made of bacteria or other microorganisms. Some biohazards are an unintentional side effect of biologists working with or studying toxins or viruses. One common type of biohazard is medical waste — things like used syringes or other tools contaminated with human blood, bacteria, or other microorganisms. The word biohazard was first used around 1973, from the Greek bio-, "life," and hazard, from the Old French hasard, "game of chance."
c. Risk Factor
A risk factor is something that increases a person's chances of developing a disease. For example, cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer and obesity is a risk factor for heart disease.
d. Biological material
Biological materials are natural biocompatible materials that comprise a whole or a part of a living structure or biomedical device that performs, augments, or replaces a natural function. Biological materials are most often engineered for medical, biotechnology and pharmaceutical applications.
e. Chemical or biological accident
A biological or chemical accident is the unintentional release of one or more hazardous substances which could harm human health and the environment. Chemical hazards are systems where chemical accidents could occur under certain circumstances. Such events include fires, explosions, leakages or release of toxic or hazardous materials that can cause people illness, injury, or disability. It may occur due to natural or human-made sources.
f. Chemical or biological incident
An incident is more general and accident is more specific, regarding hazardous materials. An incident can refer to any event – big or small, good or bad, intentional or unintentional. Accidents are always unintentional and they usually result in some damage or injury.
g. Pathogen
A pathogen is a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ.
h. Aerosols
Aerosols are a suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in gas. it is an abbreviation of "aero-solution." Smoke, fog, and mist are aerosols.
i. PPE
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemicals, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter.
2. Describe which PPEs are used by health professionals. What are they for? Discuss at least five other non-health care fields that routinely use PPE for protection from biohazards and why they are needed.
PPE used by health professionals
Examples of Non-Healthcare professions that use PPE
- Wastewater (sewage) Engineer/technician/laborer
- Waste management (garbage)
- Cleaning Services
- Law Enforcement
- Fireman
- Agriculture
- Veterinary
- Manufacturing
- Coroners
- Property Management
- Food Preparation
- Slaughterhouse/Meatpacking Operations
- Laboratory
- Hazmat Operations
- Correctional Facilities
3. Differentiate between outbreak, epidemic, pandemic and endemic. Make a Venn diagram or chart that shows the things that are the same and those that are different.
- Outbreak: Refers to the number of cases (disease) that exceeds what would be expected.
- Endemic: An infection or disease that exists permanently in a particular region or population. For example, Malaria is a constant worry in parts of Africa.
- Epidemic: An outbreak of a disease that is actively spreading over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population.
- Pandemic: A global endemic. It relates to geographic spread and is used to describe a disease that affects a whole country or the entire world.
An example of this is dengue fever. There are parts of the world where dengue fever is endemic, meaning that there are mosquitoes that are carrying dengue fever and transmitting it from person to person. But we also see imported cases and imported outbreaks in parts of the world where a disease is not endemic. There was an outbreak in the Big Island of Hawaii where somebody, unknown, must have come in with dengue fever, got bitten by mosquitoes, and then there were local chains of transmission where those mosquitoes then bit other people, they got dengue fever, and so on and so on. In this case, dengue fever is not endemic in the Big Island, however, there was an outbreak due to an imported disease with subsequent transmission.
4. Develop a list of precautions that should be taken during an epidemic/pandemic.
Frequent hand washing
Disinfecting
Social Distancing
If the disease causing the outbreak does not have an effective treatment or vaccine, one of the only tools for slowing its spread is to keep people away from each other. This recommended separation distance depends on how the disease is spread. For COVID-19, which is spread by respiratory droplets, public health professionals recommend staying at least 6 feet (2 meters) from other people (especially strangers).
Face masks
Water Treatment
Some outbreaks, such as cholera, are spread through contaminated drinking water. Proper sanitation is extremely important during a cholera outbreak, and water should be sterilized before drinking it, bathing with it, or cooking with it.
5. Chart, list, or illustrate the differences between isolation and quarantine.
6. Choose two of the following historic diseases and answer: When did it occur? How many were infected? How was it spread? What were the symptoms? What were the biosafety precautions used? How was it abated?
• Smallpox
• Typhus
• Spanish Flu
• Polio
• Swine Flu
7. Choose two of the following diseases and answer: What are the symptoms? How is it spread? Is there a cure today? Where and when was there an outbreak/epidemic/pandemic? Is there a prevention for this disease? What are the biohazard safety methods used to combat the spread of this disease?
• Cholera
• Tuberculosis
• Yellow Fever
• Measles
• Malaria
• Ebola
• AIDS
• COVID-19
8. How do vaccines work? Why is it important to be up to date with your immunizations?
9. Explain why it is so important to remove medical gloves properly. Demonstrate the proper way to remove medical gloves without transferring pathogens from the gloves to your hands through the following exercise:
a. Coat your gloved hands with a simulated “pathogen” (such as Glo-Germ, cooking oil, ketchup, corn syrup, tempera paint, etc.).
b. Remove the gloves using proper technique without transferring any of the simulated “pathogen” to your skin or clothing.
c. Dispose of the gloves.
d. Clean up the mess.
10. Regarding the cleaning of hands:
a. Why is hand washing recommended rather than hand sanitizing whenever possible?
b. What steps should be taken to make sure all parts of the hands are clean? Explain why it is important to follow each step.
c. What song have you found that is long enough that you can sing it completely while scrubbing your hands?
d. Why are the use of paper towels and/or air dryers preferable over cloth towels that will be used several times?
e. Make a video to demonstrate or present to your instructor how to properly wash and dry your hands.
11. Regarding hand sanitizer:
a. Why is 70% isopropyl alcohol the most effective concentration as the main cleansing sanitizer ingredient?
b. What is the correct way to use hand sanitizer?
c. Explain when it is appropriate to use hand sanitizer instead of soap and water.
12. Regarding face masks:
a. Explain the rationale for using a homemade mask.
b. Learn how to improvise a face mask using materials commonly found around your home.
YouTube video with Surgeon General demonstrating a technique
