Letter from the Editors

In late 2007, we developed a matrix of changes between the Laboratory Biosafety Level Criteria sections of the fourth and fifth editions of Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL). We used the November 2007 revision of BMBL5 (.PDF version) for our analysis. This work was published in the March 2008 edition of Applied Biosafety (Volume 13, Number 1). Shortly thereafter, a second BMBL5 revision was posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) web site. To our knowledge, no public acknowledgement of this revision by the BMBL authors has occurred, although the web page that hosts the BMBL5 document indicates that it was last updated March 31, 2008. We became aware of the new revision when a fellow ABSA member, Dr. Stephen Dahl, brought it to light on the ABSA Biosafety listserv. Since there was no announcement of these changes, we suspect that others may still be unaware that a new BMBL5 revision is available. Curiously, the BMBL authors have not modified the dates on the revised document or provided any method of version control (e.g., Version 5.1). The current version is distinguishable from previous revisions by an updated note on the second page which reads, “This manual is an electronic version of the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), 5th Edition....” It is currently available on the CDC web site at: www.cdc.gov/ od/ohs/biosfty/bmbl5/bmbl5toc.htm In an effort to ensure our change matrix remains as up-to-date as possible, we have conducted a comparison of the Laboratory Biosafety Level Criteria sections (Section IV) between the November 2007 and March 2008 revisions of BMBL5. We observed two notable content changes, which we have detailed in the table below. We report them here because of their potential implications to the practice of serum sample collection and storage (i.e., serum banking). An updated change matrix reflecting these revisions is now available on the ABSA web site at: www.absa. org/word/BMBLChangeMatrix.xls. Please note that there may be significant changes to other sections in this revised BMBL5 document as well; however, we have not performed this analysis. Special thanks to Dr. Dahl for bringing the March 2008 BMBL5 revision to our attention.