MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report

In 1984, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in consultation with experts from academic institutions, industry, and government, published the book Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories ("Guidelines") [Richardson JH, Barkley WE, eds. Biosafety in microbiological and biomedical laboratories, 1984. Washington, DC: Public Health Service, 1984; DHHS publication no. (CDC)84-8395.].These Guidelines are based on combinations of standard and special practices, equipment, and facilities recommended for use in working with infectious agents in various laboratory settings. The recommendations are advisory; they provide a general code for operating microbiologic and biomedical laboratories.One section of the Guidelines is devoted to standard and special microbiologic practices, safety equipment, and facilities for biosafety levels (BSL) 1 through 4. Another section contains specific agent summary statements, each consisting of a brief description of laboratory-associated infections, the nature of laboratory hazards, and recommended precautions for working with the causative agent. The authors realized that the discovery of the availability of information about these agents would necessitate updating the agent summary. Such a statement for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (called HTLV-III/LAV when the Guidelines were published) was published in MMWR in 1986 [CDC. Human T-lymphotropic virus type III/lymphadenopathy-associated virus agent summary statement. MMWR 1986;35:540-2, 547-9]. The HIV agent summary statement printed in this Supplement updates the 1986 statement.Occupational HealthPrevention and ControlCurrent283271