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What is a Code of Practice?

A code of practice describes the laboratory practices and procedures essential for implementing good, i.e., safe microbiological techniques.

It includes:

• Laboratory access
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Laboratory procedures

Laboratory Access

Good laboratory practices help to maintain biosafety in TB lab settings. However, it is good to keep in mind that:

• NOTHING can totally eliminate the safety risk associated with the TB laboratory.
• Good laboratory practices with an emphasis on biosafety, significantly reduce the risk of laboratory-acquired infection.
• Specialized equipment aids good laboratory practice but does NOT replace it.

Good Laboratory Practices

Risk monitoring is a regular inspection of the laboratory environment to monitor risks and control measures.

Stages of Risk Monitoring

1. Thorough investigation of lab incidents/lab accidents to understand the reason for such accidents

2. Review of corrective actions taken after the lab incident/lab accident​

3. Implementation of preventive measures​ post-incident to prevent the future occurrence of such events

4. Documenting the process​ of risk monitoring

What is Biosafety?

Biosafety is safe handling and containment of infectious microorganisms and hazardous biological materials.

Why Biosafety? ​

​​Infections which are obtained through laboratory or laboratory-related activities are known as Laboratory Acquired Infections (LAI). These infections are major occupational health hazards and are a cause of concern for the safety of the staff working in laboratories. ​

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Routes of entry of LAI

Diagnosis of Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) will be based on:

1. Tests to show the presence of NTM bacteria 
2. Clinical judgement based on clinical symptoms

Diagnosing NTM lung disease takes a series of steps, first to rule out other possible causes for the illness and then to confirm that the patient has been infected with NTM. 

Usually, for NTM confirmation, patients are thoroughly examined clinically,  and a detailed medical history is taken. This is followed by a minimum of three distinct types of evaluations:

General Instructions

Steps Involved in Proficiency Testing (PT):

A batch of samples is defined as a group of samples that are processed, amplified and hybridized:

• At the same time
• Under the same conditions
• Using the same PCR master mix, thermal cycler and hybridization solutions
• On the same hybridization platform.

QC during the DNA extraction procedure

The quality concepts of the Line Probe Assay (LPA) laboratory include:

Issue #1:

Absence of Conjugate Control (CC) and Amplification Control (AC) in a negative control (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Absence of CC and AC in a Negative Control

Table 1 below lists the reasons and troubleshooting for the absence of CC and AC in a negative control​.