Lab Matters Winter 2018 - Page 15

from the bench biorisk management is now recognized as a vital component of a laboratory quality management system , and a risk assessment is understood to be an essential component of the biorisk management system that needs to be in place in every laboratory . This system encompasses mitigation , evaluation and continuous improvement .

Using the Reward of Knowledge to Lower Risk

Performing a risk assessment identifies how laboratorians are vulnerable to exposures and steps needed to mitigate any hazards . For the Wadsworth Center , New York State Department of Health , risk assessments have become integral to bench work . From known respiratory species to unknown clinical samples , risk assessments allow laboratorians to correctly identify potential biohazards and understand when to elevate caution based on presented factors . For instance , if a laboratorian performs a risk assessment and identifies that the unknown clinical sample is from a patient who recently traveled overseas and was in contact with birds in an area with reported highly pathogenic avian influenza , the laboratorian would identify the sample as a potential high-risk exposure . Thus , the laboratorian would trigger BSL-2 + or BSL-3 procedures as appropriate to the sample ’ s level of risk .

Culturally , laboratory risk management has become more prevalent over time compared to 1918 . For Wadsworth staff , risk assessments in conjunction with PPE have improved its quality management system . Due to its recording and traceability capacity , the quality management system has guided laboratorians in improving the accuracy of infectious agents ’ distribution while creating accountability to ensure decontamination procedures are effective and well-documented .

On Christmas Day , 1901 , Dr . Richard Shope was born in Des Moines , Iowa to Mary and Charles Shope , a prominent physician . After graduating from high school in 1918 at the age of 16 , he enrolled at the University of Iowa and received his medical degree . He then joined the State University of Iowa Department of Pharmacology , where he taught and studied the chemotherapy of tuberculosis .

From Iowa , Shope moved his family to Princeton , NJ , to work at the Rockefeller Institute . In his early years at the Rockefeller Institute , Shope developed an interest in “ hog cholera ” since it was an economically devastating disease in Iowa [ now eradicated ]. This led him to field studies that introduced him to swine influenza and close collaboration with eastern Iowa veterinarians to achieve breakthroughs in this disease . As a consequence , Dr . Shope often was misidentified as being a veterinarian . It was during this time that he first observed an outbreak of swine influenza , which he noted was very similar in symptoms to human influenza . In 1931 , Shope discovered a filterable virus that produced “ hog influenza ,” which was later discovered to be identical to human influenza virus A . In 1936 , it was identified as the same virus that circulated during the

1918 pandemic .

After this discovery , Shope went on to study the epidemiology of swine influenza . During

World War II , Shope served in the Navy and continued in medical research . Following the war , he returned to Princeton and his work at the Rockefeller Institute . He later became an Associate Director of the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research . He was honored during his career with many awards and distinctions .

Dr . Richard Shope . Photo : Wikimedia Commons

Special thanks to Kirsten St . George , PhD , MAppSc , chief , Viral Diseases , Wadsworth Center , New York State Department of Health for providing background information on Wadsworth ’ s quality management system .

With the certainty of an unending stream of emerging pathogens , the risk assessment process will remain the bedrock of systems protecting scientists in the workplace . n