Laboratory-acquired infections (LAIs), an occupational illness, are defined as all infections acquired through laboratory or laboratory-related activities. A report published in 1898 described an LAI resulting from Corynebacterium diphtheriae being transmitted through mouth pipetting. Despite all efforts, LAIs continue, especially in developing countries like Pakistan, which has been fighting to curb many infectious diseases. As reflected in the published literature, the biosafety culture is severely lacking in many laboratories, and there are no data available from Pakistan on LAIs. Our objective was to ascertain the frequency and rate of LAIs in various labs with versatile portfolios in relation to biosafety and biosecurity practices in Karachi. Ours is a descriptive multicenter cross-sectional study conducted in 30 laboratories located in Karachi from November 2017 to April 2018. Data were collected from laboratories including the university hospital labs, research labs, animal labs, and biomedical labs. Out of 30 facilities, half (n = 15) were clinical/biomedical laboratories, 16.6% (n = 5) were university hospital laboratories, 26.6% (n = 8) were R&D laboratories, and 6.6% (n = 2) were animal laboratories. Needle stick was found to be the most common injury, followed by animal bite/scratch, cut on mucous membrane, falling of personnel, and burn injury.
Keywords: Aerosols; Laboratory-acquired infections; Occupational health.