Biosafety in the laboratory - VIB

ANNEX 3:
THE RISK GROUPS
OF SOME RELEVANT
PATHOGENS
In this annex the risk groups are given of a number of relevant pathogens. This list is a shortened version
of the lists given in the annexes of Vlarem II. If a particular pathogen is not present on this shortlist, the
complete Vlarem list should be consulted. Is the pathogen also not present on the Vlarem list, then you
should contact your internal or external biosafety expert, or the Section Biosafety and Biotechnology of
the WIV (www.biosafety.be).
H = risk group for humans
A = risk group for animals
P = risk group for plants
OP = opportunistic-pathogen
(*) = have a limited risk of infection, because they are not able to spread via air
+ = virus of which the biological risk depends on the hostanimal
Human and animal pathogens: bacteria and related organisms
H A
3 3 Bacillus anthracis
OP OP Bacillus cereus
2 Bacillus lentimorbus
2 Bacillus popiliae
2 Bacillus sphaericus
2 Bacillus thuringiensis
2 Bordetella avium
2 3 Bordetella bronchiseptica
2 Bordetella parapertussis
2 Bordetella pertussis
2 2 Campylobacter coli
2 2 Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus
3 Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis
2 2 Campylobacter jejuni
2 2 Campylobacter spp.
2 Chlamydia pneumoniae
2 2 Clostridium botulinum
2 2 Clostridium tetani
2 Enterobacter spp.
2 Enterococcus faecalis
2 2 Escherichia coli (excluding nonpathogenic
strains)
2 Helicobacter hepaticus
2 Helicobacter pylori
2 Klebsiella mobilis
(Enterobacter aerogenes)
2 Klebsiella oxytoca
2 2 Klebsiella pneumoniae
2 2 Klebsiella spp.
2 2 Listeria ivanovii
2 2 Listeria monocytogenes
2 3 Mycobacterium avium subsp.
paratuberculosis
3 3 Mycobacterium bovis
(except the BCG strain)
H A
3 Mycobacterium leprae
3 3 Mycobacterium tuberculosis
2 Neisseira gonorrhoeae
2 Neisseira meningitidis
2 2 Neisseira spp.
2 Pseudomonas aeruginosa
2 3 Salmonella Abortusequi
2 3 Salmonella Abortusovis
2 2 Salmonella choleraesuis (enterica)
subsp. arizonae
2 3 Salmonella Dublin
2 2 Salmonella Enteritidis
2 3 Salmonella Gallinarum
2 Salmonella Paratyphi A,B,C
2 3 Salmonella Pullorum
3 (*) Salmonella Typhi
2 2 Salmonella Typhimurium
2 Shigella boydii
3 (*) Shigella dysenteriae (Type I)
2 Shigella flexneri
2 Shigella sonnei
2 2 Staphylococcus aureus
2 Staphylococcus epidermidis
2 2 Streptobacillus moniliformis
2 2 Streptococcus agalactiae
2 Streptococcus dysgalactiae
3 Streptococcus equi
2 Streptococcus pneumoniae
2 Streptococcus pyogenes
2 2 Streptococcus spp.
2 2 Streptococcus suis
2 Streptococcus uberis
2 Vibrio cholerae (including El Tor)
3 3 Yersinia pestis
Note: This is a shortened list of pathogens. If your organism is not on this list, first consult the lists
at www.biosafety.be before concluding that your organism is not pathogenic.
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Biosafety in the laboratory