Biosafety and data quality considerations for animal experiments with highly infectious agents at ABSL-3 facilities

Animal models are crucial for the study of severe infectious diseases, which is essential for determining their pathogenesis and the development of vaccines and drugs. Animal experiments involving risk grade 3 agents such as SARS CoV, HIV, M.tb, H7N9, and Brucella must be conducted in an Animal Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL-3) facility. Because of the in vivo work, the biosafety risk in ABSL-3 facilities is higher than that in BSL-3 facilities. Undoubtedly, management practices must be strengthened to ensure biosafety in the ABSL-3 facility. Meanwhile, we cannot ignore the reliable scientific results obtained from animal experiments conducted in ABSL-3 laboratories. It is of great practical significance to study the overall biosafety concepts that can increase the scientific data quality. Based on the management of animal experiments in the ABSL-3 Laboratory of Wuhan University, combined with relevant international and domestic literature, we indicate the main safety issues and factors affecting animal experiment results at ABSL-3 facilities. Based on these issues, management practices regarding animal experiments in ABSL-3 facilities are proposed, which take into account both biosafety and scientifically sound data.