Abstract
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s American Committee of Medical Entomology has released their updated edition (Version 3.2) of the Arthropod Containment Guidelines. The Guidelines were written to provide pertinent risk assessment and risk management information for the safe handling and rearing of arthropods used in research. The format of the Guidelines is like the outline used in the CDC/NIH Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories. Four Arthropod Containment Levels (ACLs) are described, with increasing requirements for safety and security from ACL-1 to ACL-4. Each containment level provides information on standard practices, including standard and special practices, storage, labeling, monitoring and trapping escaped arthropods, training, medical surveillance, safety equipment, and facility design.
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s American Committee of Medical Entomology has released their updated edition (Version 3.2) of the Arthropod Containment Guidelines. The Guidelines were written to provide pertinent risk assessment and risk management information for the safe handling and rearing of arthropods used in research. The format of the Guidelines is like the outline used in the CDC/NIH Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories. Four Arthropod Containment Levels (ACLs) are described, with increasing requirements for safety and security from ACL-1 to ACL-4. Each containment level provides information on confining arthropods and minimizing exposure including, standard and special practices, storage, labeling, monitoring and trapping escaped arthropods, training, medical surveillance, safety equipment, and facility design.
There were a few major changes in Version 3.2. The authors have incorporated information that stresses that the ACL guidelines are recommendations and not a regulatory document. Information describing the effects of working with Select Agents has also been added, notably that institutions may not downgrade the specified containment level for Select Agents based on their own risk assessment. Version 3.2 has added or updated recommendations for the safe handling and containment of nonflying arthropod vectors, such as ticks, fleas, and mites. A final change involves the inclusion of information for risk assessment and safe handling of diagnostic or unknown arthropod samples.
The updated version was published online on February 27, 2019, in the
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/vbz.2018.2431
The Arthropod Containment Guidelines were first published in 2004.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.