Laboratory-Acquired Infection Risk Factors

On May 30, 2025, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Centre for Biosecurity published an article which analyzed the risk factors associated with laboratory-acquired infections in Canada in Applied Biosafety. The article titled: Analysis of Risk Factors of Laboratory-acquired Infections in Canada uses data collected from the Laboratory Incident Notification Canada program from 2016 to 2023.

The article examined 8 laboratory-acquired infection exposure incidents that met the inclusion criteria and 354 non-laboratory acquired infection exposure incidents.

The article identified the following to have contributed to laboratory-acquired infections in Canadian laboratories:

• failure of or inadequate personal protective equipment
• human factors
• sharps
• procedures

These results demonstrate the importance of proper or adequate personal protective equipment and primary containment devices in preventing exposure and subsequent laboratory-acquired infections. Licence holders must comply with the applicable requirements of the Canadian Biosafety Standard, Third Edition, including those concerning personal protective equipment. Non-compliance constitutes a contravention of the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act and may result in enforcement actions in accordance with the Centre for Biosecurity Compliance and Enforcement Policy.

For more information on risk mitigation measures including personal protective equipment, please visit the Centre for Biosecurity’s online biosafety and biosecurity resources.