The National Institute of Infectious Diseases has finally been authorized to handle the most hazardous pathogens in its laboratory in Musashimurayama in western Tokyo as the health ministry, under an agreement with the city in early August, upgraded the facility to biosafety-level-4 (BSL-4) — the highest level of biosafety. The nation needs such a facility if it's going to cope with serious infectious diseases. The NIID should do its utmost to ensure that no accidents occur at the lab because a BSL-4 facility handles pathogens that cause infectious diseases with high fatality rates and for which no effective treatment exists.
The institute built the Musashi- murayama facility as a BSL-4 lab in 1981. But facing strong opposition from nearby residents who feared that hazardous pathogens could leak into the environment, the facility has been forced to operate as a BSL-3 lab. The Ebola outbreak last year in West Africa, in which more than 10,000 people died, helped the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the city sign the agreement. It will likely take several months before the facility will actually begin operating as a BSL-4 lab. New protocols must be established and workers must be trained for work requiring a higher level of security.
New types of infectious diseases have emerged since the latter half of the 20th century, such as AIDS, Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Eight pathogens that cause highly lethal diseases, including Ebola, Lassa fever, Marburg disease and smallpox, must be handled by a BSL-4 facility. A revision of the Infectious Diseases Control Law aimed at preventing bioterrorism bans possession, importation and transfer of most of these pathogens.