A category A substance (pathogen or agent) is “an infectious substance which is transported in a form that, when exposure to it occurs, is capable of causing permanent disability or life-threatening or fatal disease to otherwise healthy humans or animals”. Deciding if an infectious substance is a Category A substance is relatively easy because there are relatively few Category A substances and because Category A substances are specifically designated and listed by IATA and DOT. The list of Category A substances is not all-inclusive, and a thorough risk assessment must be performed before assigning a substance to Category A.
UN Numbers of Category A Pathogens
Category A pathogens and substances likely to contain Category A pathogens must be assigned the UN number UN2814 (proper shipping name: Infectious Substance, Affecting Humans) or UN2900 (proper shipping name: Infectious Substance, Affecting Animals). If a Category A pathogen/substance is capable of causing disease in both humans and animals, the pathogen/substance must be shipped as a Category A substance affecting humans (UN2814).
Examples of infectious substances included in Category A are:
- Bacillus anthracis (cultures only)
- Brucella abortus (cultures only)
- Brucella melitensis (cultures only)
- Brucella suis (cultures only)
- Burkholderia mallei (cultures only)
- Burkholderia pseudomallei (cultures only)
- Chalamydia psittaci (avian) (cultures only)
- Clostridium botulinum (cultures only)
- Coccidioides immitis (cultures only)
- Coxiella burnetii (cultures only)
- Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus
- Dengue virus (cultures only)
- Eastern equine encephalitis virus (culture only)
- Escherichia coli, verotoxigenic (cultures only)
- Ebola virus
- Francisella tularensis (cultures only)
- Hantavirus causing hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome
- Hepatitis B virus (cultures only)
- Herpes B virus (cultures only)
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (cultures only)
- Lassa virus
- Marburg virus
- Monkeypox virus
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis (cultures only)
- Poliovirus virus (cultures only)
- Rabies virus (cultures only)
- Rickettsia rickettsii (cultures only)
- Rift Valley fever virus (cultures only)
- Shigella dysenteriae type 1 (cultures only)
- Variola virus
- Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (cultures only)
- West Nile virus (cultures only)
- Yellow fever virus (cultures only)
- Yersinia pestis (cultures only)
- Classical swine fever virus (cultures only)
- Foot and mouth disease virus (cultures only)
- Goat pox virus (cultures only)
- Lumpy skin disease virus (cultures only)
- Newcastle disease virus (cultures only)
- Sheep pox virus (cultures only)
- Swine vesicular disease virus (cultures only)
- Vesicular stomatitis virus (cultures only)
Source: American Society for Microbiology
