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On Tap: High-Tech Biosecurity Lab
 The News
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May 07, 2010
Mexico City – The Health Secretariat (SSA) announced Thursday that a biosecurity lab would begin operating in September.
Speaking at a press conference, Celia Alpuche Aranda, the director general of the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnostics and Research (Indre), said that this lab will be used to prevent bioterrorism and protect public health to avoid high-risk diseases from spreading.
It will join the network of high-security laboratories in the United States and Canada.
Beginning this autumn, Mexico will be able to test for traces of anthrax, francisella and the avian influenza virus.
The lab will also be permitted to cultivate these microorganisms, which was previously banned.
The lab, dubbed BSL-3, will also work directly with and cultivate certain viruses and bacteria, Alpuche said.
With this level-three high-security lab, the samples will no longer have to be sent to the United States or Canada and results will be obtained between 24 and 48 hours, making Mexican research more efficient.
Mexico signed an international agreement in 2003 to create these types of laboratories, but it wasn’t until 2007 that more details were developed and from that year until now officials have been finalizing the center, along with others in Veracruz and Sonora, Alpuche said.
During the next three weeks, scientists will undergo exhaustive and specialized training and later will meet and train with experts from Canada and the Center for Disease Control of Atlanta, she said.
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