Which risk group contains biological agents that pose low risk to personnel and the environment?*1 pointa) BSL-1b) BSL-2c) BSL-3d) BSL-4

Break Down the Problem

1. Identify the characters of different Biological Safety Levels (BSL).
2. Determine which BSL category describes low-risk biological agents.

Relevant Concepts

• BSL-1: Represents microorganisms that pose minimal risk to personnel and the environment.
• BSL-2: Involves moderate-risk agents that can cause infections but pose a low risk to healthy adults.
• BSL-3: Involves agents that can cause serious or potentially lethal diseases via inhalation.
• BSL-4: Represents the highest level of danger with highly infectious agents that are lethal and have no available vaccines.

Analysis and Detail

• BSL-1 is suitable for teaching laboratories, where work can be done with agents that do not ordinarily cause disease in healthy humans.
• BSL-2 is necessary for work with agents associated with human disease.
• BSL-3 and BSL-4 are focused on high containment levels necessary for handling serious biologic threats.

Verify and Summarize

• Since BSL-1 deals with low-risk biological agents and is designed to safely manage that risk, the best answer is BSL-1.

Final Answer

a) BSL-1