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Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)
NIH Risk Group Classifications
Factors That Determine the Specific Risk Group Classification for Infectious Agents
- pathogenicity of the organism
- mode of transmission and host range
- availability of effective preventive measures (for example, vaccines)
- availability of effective treatments (for example, antibiotics)
NIH Basis for the Classification of Biohazardous Agents by Risk Group (RG)
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Risk Group 1
(RG1)
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Agents that are not associated with disease in healthy adult humans.
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Risk Group 2
(RG2)
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Agents that are associated with human disease which is rarely serious and for which preventive or therapeutic interventions are often available.
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Risk Group 3
(RG3)
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Agents that are associated with serious or lethal human disease for which preventive or therapeutic interventions may be available (high individual risk but low community risk).
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Risk Group 4
(RG4)
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Agents that are likely to cause serious or lethal human disease for which preventive or therapeutic interventions are not usually available (high individual risk and high community risk).
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Refer to Appendix B of the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules for a current list of microorganisms in each risk group.
Containment categories for some commonly used academic cells and biological agents
Cells and cell lines
(Guidelines adapted from ATCC recommendations; ATCC catalog)
BL1
- Cell lines which are of sub-primate or normal primate origin, which do not harbor a primate virus, and which are not contaminated by fungi, bacteria, mycoplasma, etc.
BL2
- Primate cell lines derived from lymphoid or tumor tissues
- All cell lines exposed to or transformed by a primate oncogenic virus
- All human clinical materials
- All mycoplasma-contaminated cell lines
Miscellaneous: cell lines known to contain/produce an infectious etiologic agent or virus should be classified at the same level as that recommended for the etiologic agent or virus.
Infectious agents and vector systems
BL1
- Recombinant DNA (generic K12 E. coli)
- Murine retrovirus vectors
- Baculovirus
- Adeno-associated virus (AAV) and AAV vectors
- Herpesvirus saimiri
- Avian and murine retroviruses and vectors derived from any of these viruses.
BL2
- Adenovirus and adenovirus vectors
- Human herpesviruses 1 thru 7
- Human papillomaviruses
- Respiratory syncytial virus
- Poliovirus
- Influenza virus
- Enterotoxic E. coli
- Neisseria
- Staph and Strep
- Mycoplasma
- Vaccinia virus and recombinant vaccinia virus vectors
BL2+ (serum banking)
- Lab scale HIV
- Lab scale HTLV
- Lab scale SIV
- SFV vectors (from Life Technologies: SFV is listed as NIH RG3, but this system was specifically approved for BL2+ use)
BL3 (serum banking)
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Rickettsia spp
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