39 ms·

Not a migrobiologist, but I understand that labs are equipped with progressively more stringent procedures depending on the type of material they can handle. T

Not a migrobiologist, but I understand that labs are equipped with progressively more stringent procedures depending on the type of material they can handle. They may work in a very regular, run of the mill lab that is not equipped to deal with anything that is even remotely dangerous. And seeing they have only nitrile gloves for protection and everything lays on the table it looks like this is likely the case. (Not that I ever worked in a lab. My ideas of how lab safety works are based on The Andromeda Strain).

zabzonk 4y ago
pseudomonas is a very common urinary tract infection, along with e.coli and proteus, none of which commonly cause deaths. it is not particularly dangerous. using common sense and basic aseptic technique will keep you safe. back when (early to late 70s) we did not use gloves at all, because they were uncomfortable - just washed our hands a lot. nobody ever died or got infected. before i joined, someone did die from the hepatitis virus. we were not a virology lab, but we did do immunology, which is where the blood that caused the death came from - we did use gloves when dealing with that. for the more dangerous organisms, such as mycobacterium tuberculosis, we used air extraction hoods.
- kragen 4y ago
  i think pseudomonas still qualifies as bsl2 nowadays this is why we can't have nice things
  - zabzonk 4y ago
    ok, i looked that up. i really don't believe ppe does anything useful, i have never seen any double-blind tests that suggests it does. pseudomonas clings to the petri dish agar medium and will not get on your body unless you do something very silly. one way of diagnosing bacterial infections is by smell. for example, if you put your nose next to an agar plate where haemophilus influenzae is growing, you get a very characteristic smell. there are other smells. i have never heard of any microbiologist contracting an infection doing this. too much snowflake stuff here. the most scary thing that happened to me was not dealing with the bacteria, but the reagents and stains we used. i was making up some gram stain (basically iodine and NaOH in solution) when i added the water to the two solids - result steam explosion (because NaOH + H2O is exothermic) in my face. my thought was "shit, you have blinded yourself" but luckily there was an eye-wash bottle and a sink next to me, so my eyes survived. why i did this i have no idea, as i had been taught from the age of 15 to always add solids to water. anyway, so bugger bacteria - chemicals (and steam, electricity etc.) much more dangerous.
    - kragen 4y ago
      there's a reason progress is so much slower now than it was 50 years ago, and it's not that we don't have enough scientists or enough papers
    - andrewflnr 4y ago
      Do you believe parachutes do anything useful when jumping out of a plane? Do you have a double blind study that proves it?
      - zabzonk 4y ago
        yes, i do belive that - there is clear and obvious evidence. there is no clear and obvious evidence that ppe (plastic aprons, masks) does anything. which is why we need a double blind trial. i spent all my time as a microbiologist using only a white cotton lab coat (mostly for writing nurses/docs phone numbers on) , and often not that. nobody i have ever known that worked as a microbiologist has ever caught an infection. as i said elsewhere, reasonable common sense and aseptic technique does the job.
    - foobar1962 4y ago
      A reply this comment asked: "Do you believe parachutes do anything useful when jumping out of a plane? Do you have a double blind study that proves it?" A randomised controlled trial: https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 Parachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention. However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps.
    - pharrington 4y ago
      the biologist from the blog post literally got the bacteria all over her arm when collecting the sample We're all human. "unless you do something very silly" is literally what the safety rules are for
    - lproven 4y ago
      > unless you do something very silly. DO NOT LICK THE SCIENCE! For the sake of the world, please do not! https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2021/03/can-you-lick-science.html https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2021/03/can-you-lick...
- Madmallard 4y ago
  Pseudomonas is a dangerous UTI actually the only sensitivity spectrum looks like this: (1) fluoroquinolones (severe neurological and connective tissue side effects) (2) IV tazobactam + piperacillin (3) IV ceftazidime If you're not in life threatening danger they will default to (1) which is a serious detriment to society and not adequately risk assessed. At least, this is how it was in 2014 when I was rendered disabled due to fluoroquinolone toxicity. It is possible because of public outrage over fluoroquinolones that the order has since changed but yeah. Nasty.

zabzonk 4y ago

pseudomonas is a very common urinary tract infection, along with e.coli and proteus, none of which commonly cause deaths. it is not particularly dangerous. using common sense and basic aseptic technique will keep you safe. back when (early to late 70s) we did not use gloves at all, because they were uncomfortable - just washed our hands a lot. nobody ever died or got infected. before i joined, someone did die from the hepatitis virus. we were not a virology lab, but we did do immunology, which is where the blood that caused the death came from - we did use gloves when dealing with that. for the more dangerous organisms, such as mycobacterium tuberculosis, we used air extraction hoods.

kragen 4y ago
i think pseudomonas still qualifies as bsl2 nowadays this is why we can't have nice things
- zabzonk 4y ago
  ok, i looked that up. i really don't believe ppe does anything useful, i have never seen any double-blind tests that suggests it does. pseudomonas clings to the petri dish agar medium and will not get on your body unless you do something very silly. one way of diagnosing bacterial infections is by smell. for example, if you put your nose next to an agar plate where haemophilus influenzae is growing, you get a very characteristic smell. there are other smells. i have never heard of any microbiologist contracting an infection doing this. too much snowflake stuff here. the most scary thing that happened to me was not dealing with the bacteria, but the reagents and stains we used. i was making up some gram stain (basically iodine and NaOH in solution) when i added the water to the two solids - result steam explosion (because NaOH + H2O is exothermic) in my face. my thought was "shit, you have blinded yourself" but luckily there was an eye-wash bottle and a sink next to me, so my eyes survived. why i did this i have no idea, as i had been taught from the age of 15 to always add solids to water. anyway, so bugger bacteria - chemicals (and steam, electricity etc.) much more dangerous.
  - kragen 4y ago
    there's a reason progress is so much slower now than it was 50 years ago, and it's not that we don't have enough scientists or enough papers
  - andrewflnr 4y ago
    Do you believe parachutes do anything useful when jumping out of a plane? Do you have a double blind study that proves it?
    - zabzonk 4y ago
      yes, i do belive that - there is clear and obvious evidence. there is no clear and obvious evidence that ppe (plastic aprons, masks) does anything. which is why we need a double blind trial. i spent all my time as a microbiologist using only a white cotton lab coat (mostly for writing nurses/docs phone numbers on) , and often not that. nobody i have ever known that worked as a microbiologist has ever caught an infection. as i said elsewhere, reasonable common sense and aseptic technique does the job.
  - foobar1962 4y ago
    A reply this comment asked: "Do you believe parachutes do anything useful when jumping out of a plane? Do you have a double blind study that proves it?" A randomised controlled trial: https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 Parachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention. However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps.
  - pharrington 4y ago
    the biologist from the blog post literally got the bacteria all over her arm when collecting the sample We're all human. "unless you do something very silly" is literally what the safety rules are for
  - lproven 4y ago
    > unless you do something very silly. DO NOT LICK THE SCIENCE! For the sake of the world, please do not! https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2021/03/can-you-lick-science.html https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2021/03/can-you-lick...
Madmallard 4y ago
Pseudomonas is a dangerous UTI actually the only sensitivity spectrum looks like this: (1) fluoroquinolones (severe neurological and connective tissue side effects) (2) IV tazobactam + piperacillin (3) IV ceftazidime If you're not in life threatening danger they will default to (1) which is a serious detriment to society and not adequately risk assessed. At least, this is how it was in 2014 when I was rendered disabled due to fluoroquinolone toxicity. It is possible because of public outrage over fluoroquinolones that the order has since changed but yeah. Nasty.