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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
Safety Precautions and Operating Procedures in an ABSL-4 Laboratory: 2. General Practices
Published on: October 3, 2016
Good laboratory practices guarantee biosafety in the Sierra Leone-China friendship biosafety laboratory
Qin Wang1,2,3, Wei-Min Zhou1,3, Yong Zhang1,2,3
1Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Viral Diseases Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
Background:
The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa between 2014 and 2015 was the largest EDV epidemic since the identification of Ebola virus (EBOV) in 1976, and the countries most strongly affected were Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.
Findings:
The Sierra Leone-China Friendship Biological Safety Laboratory (SLE-CHN Biosafety Lab), a fixed Biosafety Level 3 laboratory in the capital city of Sierra Leone, was established by the Chinese government and has been active in EBOV detection since 11 March 2015. Complete management and program documents were created for the SLE-CHN Biosafety Lab, and it was divided into four zones (the green, yellow, brown, and red zones) based on the risk assessment. Different types of safe and appropriate personnel protection equipment (PPE) are used in different zones of the laboratory, and it fully meets the Biosafety Level 3 laboratory standards of the World Health Organization.
Conclusion:
Good preparedness, comprehensive risk assessment and operation documents, appropriate PPE, effective monitoring and intensive training, together with well-designed and reasonable laboratory sectioning are essential for guaranteeing biosafety.
