Containment facilities: design, construction and working practices

Processing biological agents requires the use of containment facilities to ensure that the biological agent is not itself contaminated and to ensure operator and environmental protection. Categorization of biological agents according to hazard and categories of containment is fully described in the ACDP guidelines [1]. For animal cell cultures, even where a pathogen has not been identified, the uncertainty arising from the potential for contamination with unidentified agents (primarily viruses) means that, in general, they should be handled under containment level 2 (see Chapter 1).