Biosafety and big events. Role of the researcher.

GOLDSTEIN DE FINK SUSANA

Salvador, Bahia

Congreso; VIII Congresso Brasileiro de Biossegurança.; 2013

Associacao Brasileira de Biossegurança

Big events imply large amount of people travelling from one end of the world to the other, people living in close contact during the event and alteration of the regular way of living of the inhabitants in the area where the event takes place. These conditions may favor distraction that could result in an unintended release of pathogens or could be taken advantage of by malicious individuals. At the same time, these conditions may favor the apparition or dispersion of existing or emergent pathogens, at the site of the event, or translated by participants when they go back to their countries. Scientists in the life sciences may have two kinds of role related to biological risks related to big events. On one hand, given the dual use characteristic inherent to biosciences, they should be more careful about the custody of the materials they handle in the laboratory, keeping in mind the possible loss, diversion or misuse of these biological agents or materials by unauthorized or badly intended people. They should also have good control of the information they produce, which may also be susceptible of misuse. In order to control this aspect, trustable accountability measures including documentation should be established and responsibilities should be well defined. Nevertheless, the first and very important step is to generate awareness in life scientists that this can happen. Scientists are usually fully engaged in their work and frequently do not pay great attention to biosafety and biosecurity aspects. On the other hand the possibility of import of a foreign agent, that may have not caused in the country of origin a public health problem, is feasible. In these big international events, people coming from areas with different climates and temperatures get together. These environmental conditions may favor proliferation and dispersion of pathogens. If an unknown agent is the cause, scientists should participate to help elucidate the agent, its characteristics and make available their knowledge, technical skills and even equipment to help find a rapid and efficient way of diagnosing. If such an emergency occurs, the situation usually becomes chaotic, so it is very important to have a contingency plan with responsibilities assigned before hand, a chain of command established and the scientist responsibilities defined, so that his/her participation can contribute to solve the problem. In conclusion, scientists should be informed and trained about biological risk issues, as well as organized, in order to be prepared for their possible contribution to the success of big events.