BioSafety Levels - The Short Version
| BioSafety Level | Route of Infection | How to Get Sick | How to Stay Healthy |
| BSL 1 | Doesn't infect humans. | Don't worry, you can't. | You will. |
| BSL 2 | Oral or by Injection. | Eat in the Lab; Don't Wash Your Hands; Be sloppy with needles. | Good lab practices. |
| BSL 3 | By Breathing. | Don't work in a cabinet; The countertop will do just fine. | Protective Equipment, Biosafety cabinets, Isolators. |
| BSL 4 | By Being in the same room. | Work with the agent in a conventional laboratory. | Work in a ventilated, positive pressure suit at a validated BSL-4 laboratory. |
Animal Biosafety levels, (ABSL's) describe similar levels of husbandry and containment necessary when vertebrate animals are infected with infectious agents.
Complete and authoritative recommendations for the handling of infectious agents are given in the CDC's " Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories".