There are many different levels of biosafety in laboratories. They range from 1 to 4. 4 being the most extreme level. Biosafety level 4 is used for studying pathogens that have an unknown cure, high transmission rate, with high pathogenicity. For example something like the Ebola virus would be biosafety level 4 just because Ebola can so easily kill the host that it infects. While Ebola is only spread through direct contact with the infected hosts fluids it can pose a huge threat if a pathogen at this level escapes into the general public. There are many safety precautions that are associated with a laboratory of this level. Everyone must decontaminate before coming into the lab and especially when leaving it. When leaving you must shower in the suit you wore in the lab take that off and decontaminate it then shower again. The suits that you wear are filled with positive pressure. Positive pressure means that if the suit you are wearing ever rips then the oxygen in the suit will flow out and not allow air in. Positive pressure helps keeps the pathogens out of your suit at all times, it is essential that this is a feature in the suits so that no one in the laboratory gets infected with a pathogen that they are working on.
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