Biological hazard

The biological hazard symbol

Biohazard is a shorthand term for "biological hazard". It refers to biological substances that pose a threat to (primarily) human health. This can include medical waste, samples of a virus or bacterium that can affect humans, and so forth. It is generally used as a warning, so that those potentially exposed to the substances will know to take precautions.

In Unicode, the biohazard sign is U+2623 (☣).

Levels of Biohazard

The United States' CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) categorizes various diseases in levels of biohazard; Level 1 being minimum risk and Level 4 being extreme risk.

Biohazard Level 1: Bacillus subtilis, canine hepatitis, E. coli, varicella (chicken pox).

Biohazard Level 2: Hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, salmonella, scrapie

Biohazard Level 3: anthrax, typhus, HIV, SARS, tuberculosis, BSE, Smallpox, Yellow Fever, Mumps,

Biohazard Level 4: Ebola, lassavirus, hantavirus, Bolivian Fever, Dengue Fever and other various hemorrhagic diseases (mostly of African decent).

See also

• biological agent

External link

• "Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories", official CDC guide.
• "Symbol Making", an account of the development of the symbol.