Biohazards Definition, What is a Biohazard
December 4, 2019
What are Biohazards?
They are defined as any biological or chemical substance that is dangerous to humans, animals, or the environment. This can include everything from humans such as body fluids, human tissue and blood, and recombinant DNA to animal tissue and fluids to microorganisms such as bacteria, mold and viruses such as the coronavirus . Because biohazards have the potential to infect anyone who is exposed to them, all human waste should be properly handled and disposed of and that’s why you call a biohaz ard cleanup company like Exit . We cleanup these bio hazards and dispose of them properly.
When we think of biohazards, our minds automatically wander to government agents in hazmat suits from the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) or the zombie movies with scenes of panic, disease outbreaks, and contamination. In our old movie Special Makeup Effects days (Our Bio) of course loved doing zombie makeups and plague-ridden characters. We never realized the grand scale that biohazards could play in our real lives until we started training for the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and biohazard cleanup services, we provide at E xit Cl eanup . As we have found with the covid-19 pandemic (a disease prevalent over a whole country or the world), Biohazards are not restricted to the movies and can exist almost anywhere, in Hospitals, the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and even in the blood in our veins.
The 4 Levels of Biohazards as described by the CDC
Biohazard level 1: Agents that do not generally cause disease in healthy humans. An example of a level 1 biohazard would be bacillus subtilis, a soil bacterium that can sometimes cause illness in individuals with weakened immune systems.
Biohazard level 2: These agents can cause severe illness in healthy humans, but can only cause infection through direct contact with infected material or through ingestion. Examples of a level 2 biohazard are HIV, salmonella, and hepatitis B.
Biohazard level 3: Pathogens that cause serious diseases and can become airborne. An example of a level 3 biohazard would be tuberculosis, a lung disease that can be passed from person to person through the air.
Biohazard level 4: Pathogens that cause diseases for which there are no treatments. An example of a level 4 biohazard would be Ebola virus, a fatal form of hemorrhagic fever that is transmitted through direct contact with infected body fluids or contaminated objects.
What are some biohazard examples?
Here are several kinds of Biohazardous materials. Animal waste. Animal carcasses and body parts, or any bedding material used by animals that are known to be infected with pathogenic organisms.
Human body fluids. Semen, cerebrospinal fluid, pleural fluid, vaginal secretions, pericardial fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva, and peritoneal fluid.
Human blood and blood products. This includes items that have been contaminated with blood and other body fluids or tissues that contain visible blood.
Microbiological wastes. Common in laboratory settings, examples of microbiological wastes include specimen cultures, disposable culture dishes, discarded viruses, and devices used to transfer or mix cultures.
Pathological waste. Unfixed human tissue (excluding skin), waste biopsy materials, and anatomical parts from medical procedures or autopsies.
Medical Sharps waste. Needles, glass slides and cover slips, scalpels, and IV tubing that has the needle attached.
How to Protect Yourself and Stay Safe: Good hygiene and social distancing remain the top two tactics as we have realized from the coronavirus outbreak. The best way to prevent illness is to eliminate your exposure to biological agents . It can be as simple as washing your hands often for at least 25 seconds, using hand sanitizer, staying up to date on your vaccinations, and regularly disinfect surfaces in your home and at work as well as things like your phone and steering wheel.
However, there can sometimes be an extreme circumstance that presents itself in which you find yourself facing possible exposure to biohazards on a grand scale as we all find ourselves now with the whole world stopped and country in quarantine for the coronavirus . Its important to not only protect yourself but your home, property and businesses. Call Exit for our biohazard disinfection and decontamination services . We kill the coronavirus with our specialty hospital grade communicable disease disinfection services. Our disinfectants will reach every part of your property to destroy the virus as well as bacteria and mold.
And as always Life and death happens so if you find that someone around you is involved in a traumatic accident , a loved one falls victim to a violent crime , a death in the family or a friend commits suicide and you find yourself faced with the situation that needs a biohazard cleanup , you should turn to a professional for help. Call Exit Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup so that we can help you in your time of need.
They are defined as any biological or chemical substance that is dangerous to humans, animals, or the environment. This can include everything from humans such as body fluids, human tissue and blood, and recombinant DNA to animal tissue and fluids to microorganisms such as bacteria, mold and viruses such as the coronavirus . Because biohazards have the potential to infect anyone who is exposed to them, all human waste should be properly handled and disposed of and that’s why you call a biohaz ard cleanup company like Exit . We cleanup these bio hazards and dispose of them properly.
When we think of biohazards, our minds automatically wander to government agents in hazmat suits from the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) or the zombie movies with scenes of panic, disease outbreaks, and contamination. In our old movie Special Makeup Effects days (Our Bio) of course loved doing zombie makeups and plague-ridden characters. We never realized the grand scale that biohazards could play in our real lives until we started training for the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and biohazard cleanup services, we provide at E xit Cl eanup . As we have found with the covid-19 pandemic (a disease prevalent over a whole country or the world), Biohazards are not restricted to the movies and can exist almost anywhere, in Hospitals, the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, and even in the blood in our veins.
The 4 Levels of Biohazards as described by the CDC
Biohazard level 1: Agents that do not generally cause disease in healthy humans. An example of a level 1 biohazard would be bacillus subtilis, a soil bacterium that can sometimes cause illness in individuals with weakened immune systems.
Biohazard level 2: These agents can cause severe illness in healthy humans, but can only cause infection through direct contact with infected material or through ingestion. Examples of a level 2 biohazard are HIV, salmonella, and hepatitis B.
Biohazard level 3: Pathogens that cause serious diseases and can become airborne. An example of a level 3 biohazard would be tuberculosis, a lung disease that can be passed from person to person through the air.
Biohazard level 4: Pathogens that cause diseases for which there are no treatments. An example of a level 4 biohazard would be Ebola virus, a fatal form of hemorrhagic fever that is transmitted through direct contact with infected body fluids or contaminated objects.
What are some biohazard examples?
Here are several kinds of Biohazardous materials. Animal waste. Animal carcasses and body parts, or any bedding material used by animals that are known to be infected with pathogenic organisms.
Human body fluids. Semen, cerebrospinal fluid, pleural fluid, vaginal secretions, pericardial fluid, amniotic fluid, saliva, and peritoneal fluid.
Human blood and blood products. This includes items that have been contaminated with blood and other body fluids or tissues that contain visible blood.
Microbiological wastes. Common in laboratory settings, examples of microbiological wastes include specimen cultures, disposable culture dishes, discarded viruses, and devices used to transfer or mix cultures.
Pathological waste. Unfixed human tissue (excluding skin), waste biopsy materials, and anatomical parts from medical procedures or autopsies.
Medical Sharps waste. Needles, glass slides and cover slips, scalpels, and IV tubing that has the needle attached.
How to Protect Yourself and Stay Safe: Good hygiene and social distancing remain the top two tactics as we have realized from the coronavirus outbreak. The best way to prevent illness is to eliminate your exposure to biological agents . It can be as simple as washing your hands often for at least 25 seconds, using hand sanitizer, staying up to date on your vaccinations, and regularly disinfect surfaces in your home and at work as well as things like your phone and steering wheel.
However, there can sometimes be an extreme circumstance that presents itself in which you find yourself facing possible exposure to biohazards on a grand scale as we all find ourselves now with the whole world stopped and country in quarantine for the coronavirus . Its important to not only protect yourself but your home, property and businesses. Call Exit for our biohazard disinfection and decontamination services . We kill the coronavirus with our specialty hospital grade communicable disease disinfection services. Our disinfectants will reach every part of your property to destroy the virus as well as bacteria and mold.
And as always Life and death happens so if you find that someone around you is involved in a traumatic accident , a loved one falls victim to a violent crime , a death in the family or a friend commits suicide and you find yourself faced with the situation that needs a biohazard cleanup , you should turn to a professional for help. Call Exit Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup so that we can help you in your time of need.
What is a Hoarder
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If you have a case of CDIFF and need help call EXIT BIOHAZARD CLEANUP and have us come and disinfect your home. What is CDIFF? C.diff stands for Clostridium difficile (klos-TRID-e-oi-deez dif-uh-SEEL), which is a germ or bacterium that causes a symptomatic infection due to the spore-forming bacterium, Clostridium difficile. It causes many Symptoms which include watery diarrhea, fever, nausea, and abdominal pain. It makes up about 20% of cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. It most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long-term care facilities. Complications may include pseudomembranous colitis, toxic megacolon, perforation of the colon, and sepsis which can be life threatening. One in 11 people over age 65 diagnosed with a healthcare-associated C. diff infection die within one month. In general it causes severe diarrhea and colitis (an inflammation of the colon). It’s estimated to cause almost half a million infections in the United States each year. C. diff can affect anyone. Most cases of C. diff occur when you’ve been taking antibiotics or not long after you’ve finished taking antibiotics. There are other risk factors such as being 65 or older, a recent stay at a hospital or nursing home, a weakened immune system, such as people with HIV/AIDS, cancer, or organ transplant patients taking immunosuppressive drugs, or previous infection with C. diff or known exposure to the germs. Because 1 in 6 patients who get C. diff will get it again in the subsequent 2-8 weeks . If you have been taking antibiotics recently and have symptoms of C. diff, you should see a healthcare professional as soon as possible. Getting diarrhea is fairly common while on, or after taking, antibiotics, but in only a few cases will that diarrhea be caused by C. diff . So if your diarrhea is severe you need to talk to your doctor and do not delay getting medical care. Your doctor will review your symptoms and order a lab test of a stool (poop) sample. If the test is positive, you’ll take a specific antibiotic (e.g. vancomycin or fidaxomicin) for at least 10 days. If you were already taking an antibiotic for another infection, your healthcare professional might ask you to stop taking it if they think it’s safe to do so. Your doctor may decide to admit you to the hospital, in which case they will use certain precautions, such as wearing gowns and gloves, to prevent the spread of C. diff to themselves and to other patients because it can be very contagious . its important to use a separate bathroom if you have diarrhea, thoroughly wash hands with soap and water every time you use the bathroom and always before you eat, and take showers washing well with soap. Cleanliness is key to beating this and stopping it from spreading to others or back to you. Because C.DIFF bacteria can last for months. When the bacteria are outside the human body they can be virtually anywhere in the environment. They are in a dormant state and essentially shutdown waiting for a new host. This enables them to survive for a long time from weeks to months in any number of places and that's why its very difficult to destroy and it is also why people often have the infection reoccur. The ability of it to be dormant and survive outside the body enables the generally easy transmission of the bacterium. It can last a long time sitting on surfaces, in soil or feces, in water areas, or even in food. Once the bacteria finds their way into a person's digestive system, they "wake up" and can begin to produce infection again. That being said, its not the easiest bacteria to kill. its not like covid which is pretty weak in the environment and generally dies quickly. this has some staying power and requires special cleaning and disinfection procedures. We often kill corona virus and other germs during our disinfection fogging services to help stop the spread of covid 19 and we kill 99.99% of germs and viruses in general for most of our services including our biohazard cleaning services, but CDIFF is something special and its much harder to kill so we have to bring out the big guns to do it. We mean specialty chemicals and procedures to kill what is there and what is hiding dormant. At Exit Cleanup we just think of this as another service we provide but as you can see its not your typical disinfection. If you have Cdiff or someone in your family does and you want us there to kill it, please just call and we will prepare for germ warfare for you. We will fight this for you.
This is to describe the 4 levels of biohazards and the 6 types of biohazards. Biohazard cleanup is important because we could encounter a biohazard anytime anywhere. Learn more here. A biohazard could be anything from animal feces or rancid meat to blood from a crime scene or materials from a laboratory.
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A suicide in New Orleans. Exit cleanup doesn't always get the job but we do all we can to help in any situation. Most of the time, your home owners insurance pays the biohazard cleanup but if the deceased lived in an apartment, it may be something that the property owner may want to pay for. Its sometimes complicated but Exit will help. This situation was difficult because the resident committed suicide and the property owner wasn't available. Long story short , we helped out the sister of the deceased a bit so she could get things sorted and did what we could.
RYOBI Fogger review is to talk about the good and bad of the Ryobi 18v fogger. We here at Exit Cleanup use fogging for our disinfection services that we provide in the Louisiana area. We disinfect and decontaminate for viruses such as the Covid Virus, Mrsa, HIV, CDIFF, Hepatitis and more. We use fogging as one of our tools to kill the germs. you can also see our review of the Ryobi 18v electrostatic sprayer.
Exit Cleanup are Louisiana's blood and biohazard experts and we can help. We are here to deal with all biohazard cleaning siuations from blood spills to virus protection. We clean up death and crime scenes as well as the aftermath of suicides and any situation involving blood and bodily fluids. We also help cleanup hoarding properties and work with hoarders to get things back to a working normal in their homes. We get asked a lot about Blood cleanup so this article gives a bit o what to do in that situation.
Types of Biohazards we may have to deal with
