Evolution of Biosafety teaching in Argentina

GOLDSTEIN DE FINK SUSANA

Salvador, Bahia

Congreso; VIII Congresso Brasileiro de Biossegurança.; 2013

Associacao Brasileira de Biossegurança

As it happened worldwide, the apparition of HIV in the 1980?s generated in our country fear and triggered the development of manuals and training in Biosafety. Many laboratories adopted the first editions of the CDC BMBL and the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual. Some institutions published their own Biosafety Manuals, including the Argentine Microbiology Association (AAM) and the Camera of Medical Diagnostics Institutions CADIME. Slowly, Biosafety courses started to appear. One of the first ones was developed by the National Institute for Human Viral Infections (INEVH). Later, in the first years of this century, our National Research Council CONICET implemented basic training courses in Biosafety.  In 2003 we started our own course on Laboratory Biosafety at the Institute of Hematology from the National Academy of Medicine, which had a great demand, is offered annually and grew from its initial 3 days to a full week in just 3 years. With the appearance of new university careers, such as Biotechnology, the subject was included in the curriculum in several universities. In other more classical studies such as Biology or Biochemistry, it was introduced as part of Microbiology.  In 2006 a Biosafety postgraduate course for Biology graduate students was given for the first time at the National University of Mar del Plata, and repeated periodically since. Around the same time a Biosafety course was open at the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of Rosario. This was later included as mandatory for all postgraduate students in the biomedical areas. Also in 2006 a Supplemental course for graduates as Health and Safety Specialists was given at the University of Buenos Aires, and it was repeated in 2009. In the veterinary area, our National Service of Animal Health SENASA has organized several courses and training activities on different aspects of Biosafety. It is in this area were two Master?s degree programs have appeared lately, one at the University of Rosario, with the first graduates in 2012-2013, and a pilot program of SENASA with the National University of La Plata that was begun this year and should be open by this University next year. In conclusion, although Biosafety is not always recognized in Argentina as an essential part of all activities related to human and animal health as well as Biology, education on this subject has come a long way and is being included more and more often as part of undergraduate and graduate training.