Biological hazard: Encyclopedia - Biological hazard

Biological hazard

Biohazard is a shorthand term for "biological hazard". It refers to biological substances that pose a threat to (primarily) human health. This can include medical waste, samples of a microoganism, virus or toxin (from a biological source) that can affect humans, and so forth. It is generally used as a warning, so that those potentially exposed to the substances will know to take precautions. It can also include substances harmful to animals. There is also a biohazard HCS/WHMIS logo which utilizes the same symbol.

In Unicode, the biohazard sign is U+2623 (☣).

Graphic novelist Mitchell Vega uses the biohazard sign as his signature in his pictures.

Biohazardous agents are classified by UN number:

• UN 2814 (Infectous substance to Humans)
  
• UN 2900 (Infectous substance to Animals)
  
• UN 3291 (Medical Waste)

Biological hazard - Levels of Biohazard

The United States' CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) categorizes various diseases in levels of biohazard; Level 1 being minimum risk and Level 4 being extreme risk.

Biohazard Level 1: Bacillus subtilis, canine hepatitis, E. coli, varicella (chicken pox).

Biohazard Level 2: Hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, salmonella, scrapie

Biohazard Level 3: anthrax, typhus, HIV, SARS, tuberculosis, BSE, Smallpox, Yellow Fever, Mumps,

Biohazard Level 4: Ebola, Lassa virus, Hanta virus, Bolivian Fever, Dengue Fever and other various hemorrhagic diseases (mostly of African descent).

Biological hazard - Fictional Biohazard Viruses

• T-Virus
• G-Virus
• T/G Virus
• T-Veronica Virus

See also

• biological agent

HIV is biosafety level 2

Biological hazard - External link

• "Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories", official CDC guide.
• "Symbol Making", an account of the development of the symbol.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Biological hazard", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki