CXXIX. Biological safety cabinets for contamination control

Abstract

The need for safety equipment and precautionary measures in the biomedical laborator" has been confirmed in a series of ratory-acquired infections. A recent summary of their reports (4) indicates nearly 3500 overt laboratory infections, 4.6% of which terminated in death. These authors, as well as Phillips (5), have observed that a~oroximatelv 20% of the r e~o r t e d cases . . e m be rrlnted u, a known or reeognmd l~horntorv i n r~d m t , the other 80% resulted from unknown muses T~P rndentdlable causes of infection were accidental ingestion of viable microbial agents by pipetting accidents, or inoculation of viable microhial agents by accidental needle punctures, scratches. cuts. and animal bites. The uni-