4. Moderate-risk tb laboratories

The recommendations in this chapter are the minimum requirements needed to limit or reduce risks of infection in laboratories carrying out specific procedures that are considered to have a moderate risk of spreading TB. Additional measures may be deemed necessary following a site-specific risk assessment.

Moderate-risk laboratories that follow the minimum biosafety requirements described in this chapter can safely perform certain procedures that entail a moderate risk of specimen aerosolization with a relatively low concentration of infectious particles. Moderate-risk laboratories can:

  • process specimens for inoculation on primary solid-culture media;
  • perform direct DST (for example, direct line-probe assays, Microscopic observation drug susceptibility [MODS], Nitrate reductase assay [NRA] on processed sputum).

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