Personnel Health Program

An occupational health and safety program must be part of the overall animal care and use program (CDC and NIH 1993; CFR 1984a,b,c; PHS Policy). The program must be consistent with federal, state, and local regulations and should focus on maintaining a safe and healthy workplace. The program will depend on the facility, research activities, hazards, and animal species involved. The National Research Council publication Occupational Health and Safety in the Care and Use of Research Animals (NRC In press) contains guidelines and references for establishing and maintaining an effective, comprehensive program. An effective program relies on strong administrative support and interactions among several institutional functions or activities, including the research program (as represented by the investigator), the animal care and use program (as represented by the veterinarian and the IACUC), the environmental health and safety program, occupational health services, and administration (e.g., human resources, finance, and facility-maintenance personnel). Operational and day-to-day responsibility for safety in the workplace, however, resides with the laboratory or facility supervisor and depends on performance of safe work practices by all employees.

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

Professional staff that conduct and support research programs that involve hazardous biologic, chemical, or physical agents (including ionizing and nonionizing radiation) should be qualified to assess dangers associated with the programs and to select safeguards appropriate to the risks. An effective occupational health and safety program ensures that the risks associated with the experimental use of animals are reduced to acceptable levels. Potential hazards - such as animal bites, chemical cleaning agents, allergens, and zoonoses - that are inherent in or intrinsic to animal use should also be identified and evaluated. Health and safety specialists with knowledge in appropriate disciplines should be involved in the assessment of risks associated with hazardous activities and in the development of procedures to manage such risks. The extent and level of participation of personnel in the occupational health and safety program should be based on the hazards posed by the animals and materials used; on the exposure intensity, duration, and frequency; on the susceptibility of the personnel; and on the history of occupational illness and injury in the particular workplace (Clark 1993).

Animal Procurement Procedures and Inspection

All animals must be acquired lawfully, and the receiving institution should make reasonable attempts to ensure that all transactions involving animal procurement are conducted in a lawful manner. If dogs and cats are obtained from USDA Class B dealers or pounds, the animals should be inspected to see whether they can be identified, as through the presence of tattoos or subcutaneous transponders. Such identification might indicate that an animal was a pet, and ownership should be verified. Attention should be given to the population status of the taxon under consideration; the threatened or endangered status of species is provided and updated annually by the Fish and Wildlife Service (DOI 50 CFR 17). The use of purpose-bred research animals testing objectives might be desirable if it is consistent with research, teaching.

Potential vendors should be evaluated for the quality of animals supplied by them. As a rule, vendors of purpose-bred animals (e.g., USDA Class A dealers) regularly provide information that describes the genetic and pathogen status of their colonies or individual animals. This information is useful for deciding on acceptance or rejection of animals, and similar data should be obtained on animals received by interinstitutional or intrainstitutional transfer (such as transgenic mice).
Source: Guide to the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals

Diagnostic Laboratory Description and Procedures

The diagnostic lab is available with equipment for tissue dissection, microscopy, mass spectroscopy, incubation, and other procedures inherent to a research facility.

Health Surveillance Procedures

Animal Monitoring
It is important that the animals held in LARU be healthy. Maintaining the health of an animal is accomplished by practicing good husbandry. Proper nutrition, clean water, and sanitation practices are essential.

Animals should be checked daily to ensure their needs are being met and to detect any deviation from the norm that may be indicative of a health problem.

This site provides a good tutorial for assessing animal health. As always, if there is a question, consult the facility manager or veterinarian.
Basic Assessment

Room Monitoring
Animal rooms, also known as secondary enclosures, must be monitored daily to ensure that the environment is positively contributing to the health of the animals. Temperature, humidity, light and light cycles, air ventilation, and cleanliness are all important to animal care. A log should be kept for each room and should be updated each time something is done in the room. This may include bedding changes, the removal of deceased or sick animals, or the birth of offspring. Any deficiency should be documented and reported for prompt attention.

This form is used in LARU to assess the condition of the room and the condition of the animals.

Health Reporting Procedures
Health reporting procedures must include documentation to enable personnel to provide medical attention for those animals needing it. Daily monitoring forms are used for health reporting and room monitoring.

Quarantine and Isolation Procedures
Quarantine is the separation of newly received animals from those already in the facility until the health and possibly the microbial status of the newly received animals have been determined. An effective quarantine minimizes the chance for introduction of pathogens into an established colony. The veterinary medical staff should have procedures for evaluating the health and, if appropriate, the pathogen status of newly received animals, and the procedures should reflect acceptable veterinary medical practice and federal and state regulations applicable to zoonoses. Information from vendors on animal quality should be sufficient to enable a veterinarian to determine the length of quarantine, to define the potential risks to personnel and animals within the colony, to determine whether therapy is required before animals are released from quarantine, and, in the case of rodents, to determine whether cesarean rederivation or embryo transfer is required to free the animals of specific pathogens. Rodents might not require quarantine if data from the vendor or provider are sufficiently current and complete to define the health status of the incoming animals and if the potential for exposure to pathogens during transit is considered. When quarantine is indicated, animals from one shipment should be separated from animals from other shipments (not necessarily from each other) to preclude transfer of infectious agents between groups.

Regardless of the duration of quarantine, newly received animals should be given a period for physiologic, psychologic, and nutritional stabilization before their use. The length of time for stabilization will depend on the type and duration of animal transportation, the species involved, and the intended use of the animals. The need for a stabilization period has been demonstrated in mice, rats, guinea pigs, and goats; it is probably required for other species as well.

Physical separation of animals by species is recommended to prevent interspecies disease transmission and to eliminate anxiety and possible physiologic and behavioral changes due to interspecies conflict. Such separation is usually accomplished by housing different species in separate rooms; however, cubicles, laminar-flow units, cages that have filtered air or separate ventilation, and isolators might be suitable alternatives. In some instances, it might be acceptable to house different species in the same room, for example, if two species have a similar pathogen status and are behaviorally compatible. Some species can have subclinical or latent infections that can cause clinical disease if transmitted to another species.

Intraspecies separation might be essential when animals obtained from multiple sites or sources, either commercial or institutional, differ in pathogen status, e.g., sialodacryoadenitis virus in rats, mouse hepatitis virus, Pasteurella multocida in rabbits, for Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1 (formerly Herpesvirus simiac) in macaque species, and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in swine.
Source: Guide to the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals

Vendor Health Reports
A health report should be provided by the vendor with each shipment of animals received by the LARU. A sample of one such report is available here.

Animal Care Procedures

Animals must be handled periodically for procedures, transfer, evaluations, etc. Proper handling and restraint reduces the amount of stress on the animal and increases the safety of the subject and of personnel.

This site offers an excellent tutorial on handling small mammal laboratory animals. Handling and Restraint

Several guidelines are consistant across the species housed at LARU.
                        Temperature should be maintained between 68-72°F. and humidity between 40% and 60%. Air changes in the secondary enclosures should number between 10 and 15. Appropriate bedding/nesting material should be provided and changed often.

Primary enclosures should be species appropriate:

Mouse               Cage should be 5 inches high with 6-15 sq.in. per animal depending on weight.
Rat                     Cage should be 7 inches high with 17-70 sq.in. per animal depending on weight.
Gerbil                Cage should be 6 inches high
Hamster           Cage should be 6 inches high and should have 10-19 sq.in. per animal depending on weight.
Guinea pig       Cage should be 7 inches high and provide 60-101 sq.in. per animal depending on weight.
Rabbit               Cage should be 14 inches high and provide 1.5-5.0+ sq.ft. per animal depending on weight.

Sanitation, Sterilization & Hygiene

To establish the proper sanitation and cleaning program, it is important to understand the advantages and limitations of the chemicals used. Misunderstandings can often lead to disappointing results, high costs and sometimes, corrosion and hazardous conditions. These agents are dissolved or dispersed in a vehicle such as water or other solvent. Also, although performance of cleaning agents generally improves as the temperature is raised; it is possible to destroy some cleaning agents at 140°F. Selection of the proper agent is always important.

Before setting up a sanitization program, you must first understand: the area to be dealt with, the quality of water available and the different types of chemicals available for the job.

An animal facility consists of these main areas:

1. cage-wash room
2. animal rooms
3. secondary areas such as halls, labs, offices, storage areas, et cetera

1. cleaned
2. sanitized
3. disinfected

Cage-Wash Room
The cage-wash room is the area into which dirty cages are brought and, by either manual or mechanical means, are cleaned and sanitized. Cleaning and sanitization are two different processes and not necessarily accomplished in the same step or with the same chemical. It is possible to have a cage that is clean but not sanitized; it is also possible to have a cage that is dirty, but nevertheless sanitized.

The first step in cleaning cages or other equipment is flushing them with warm water to remove and loose soil. While some machines have a pre-wash cycle, it is usually more efficient and economical to hose the gross soil off the cages and use a scraper in the cage-wash room before running them through the cage-washer.

Once the loose soil has been removed, any urine scale present on the equipment should be treated with an acid solution. The acid concentration depends on the depth of urine scale build-up and the type of acid used, and the contact time allowed for the acid to react. Alkaline materials will not be effective in dissolving urine scale; only acid will react with the scale to form a water-soluble salt. Factors affecting this reaction are acid concentration, time, and to a lesser degree, temperature.

Since acids are corrosive and potential health hazards, follow all cautions prescribed by the manufacturer. Manual use is especially hazardous-scrubbing with a brush, dipping in a tank, spraying. If you are acid-treating in a mechanical cage-washer, be sure that all parts that come into contact with the scaler are acid-resistant.

The next step is removal of any residual acid. This can be done either by rinsing the cage surfaces with plenty of clean water or by neutralizing the acid wash with an alkaline chemical.

If the residual acid is not removed, it will interfere with the detergent wash. Residual acid will neutralize the alkaline detergent, leading to higher use of detergent or poor cleaning.

The third step is the alkaline wash. Alkaline detergents are used for three reasons:

1. They insure neutralization of any residual acid.
2. Contamination with greasy oils from food, fecal material or skin or hair of any animal is best removed by alkaline chemicals.
3. Alkaline detergents are less expensive than acid-base detergents, and less detergent can be used.

Factors affecting the performance of alkaline washes are concentration, temperature, and time. Review the manufacturer's literature carefully when selecting a detergent. For instance, some detergents may not be stable at temperatures above 100°F. The pH of the wash solution may be too high for non-stainless steel metals. The product may adversely affect polycarbonate (shoebox) cages.

Polycarbonate presents some special problems. If a polycarbonate cage is improperly washed and autoclaved at too high a temperature, it will start to cloud. Although this cloudiness is often thought to be detergent residue, it is nearly always the result of improper treatment. Cloudiness will also result as polycarbonate cages age.

Following the alkaline wash, the cages should be rinsed with fresh water to remove residual detergent. The surface of the cages or equipment will now be clean. For sanitization, however, the cages must be exposed to water at 180°F at some point during the process.

What about chemical sanitization agents? If cages are washed manually, and temperatures of 180°F cannot be reached or guaranteed, chemical sanitizers can and should be used. If cages are washed mechanically, chemical sanitizers are usually not used, for the following reasons:

Economies: The costs of using the proper amount of a chemical sanitizer are quite high.
Foaming: When used at the proper level, most sanitizers will create excessive amounts of foam.
Time: The time required for the sanitizing process is longer than the mechanical washing time.

A word about the finished product: Sometimes, especially in areas of hard water, the cages come out of the cage-washer with white spots or a white powder film. This is often mistaken for detergent residue. However, it is usually calcium and magnesium salts left behind by water drying on the surface. Rinse aids are sometimes used to eliminate spotting, but since they work by forming a slippery film on the washed surfaces, they may leave an undesirable residue.

An important part of the entire cleaning and sanitizing process is maintaining the proper concentration of chemicals. Even though there is reliable equipment for the job, too often concentrations are simply guess work.

The best way to control chemical levels in solution is to keep tract of conductivity or concentration of dissolved salts in solution. Tracking pH is not a good indicator of concentration because it takes large amounts of the cleaning chemical to effect a small change in the pH. Conductivity test units or test kits can be used alone and the chemicals added manually when necessary, or the units can be hooked up to automatic feeders which add more cleaning chemical when the concentration is too low.

Animal Rooms & Adjoining Areas
Animal rooms must be cleaned and either sanitized or disinfected on a regular schedule.
The first step is removing loose soil by vacuuming, sweeping, et cetera. This is necessary before sanitization because the active ingredient in the sanitizer or disinfectant will otherwise be used up on the bacteria in the soil, not the surfaces you wish to disinfect.

The second step is pre-cleaning the room with a good detergent or with a disinfectant/detergent combination formula. If you clean with a detergent, make sure the surfaces are rinsed thoroughly before attempting to use the disinfectant. More often than not, the detergent will not be compatible with the disinfectant, and any residue will tend to precipitate the active ingredient in the disinfectant.

The next step is application of the disinfectant or sanitizer. There are basically three types of chemical disinfectants used widely today: quaternary ammoniums, phenols, and halogens (chlorines and iodophors). Each of these types of products has certain advantages and disadvantages.
You should make your choice after evaluating the following criteria:

Activity: The effectiveness against and the time required to kill the organisms with which you are concerned.
Safety: The toxicity and corrosiveness of the material. These two factors should be evaluated not only as they relate to the research animal, but as they may affect the people who will use these chemicals.
Economics: How much chemical will you have to use, and at what cost and use dilution, to reach your desired level of sanitation?
Stability: Is the product stable in its container for a sufficient period of time? If not, you may have to buy smaller quantities at higher per-unit cost.

Once you've made your choice, be sure the disinfectant or sanitizer is applied according to the instructions on the label.
The two most critical factors in applying a disinfectant/sanitizer are:

Proper concentration: Too little will not produce the desired results. Too much may damage the surfaces in the room; levels that are too high may be hard to rinse off, and create build-ups.
Time: It takes time for these chemical agents to work. The effect of too little time will be the same as that of a too-low concentration. Leaving them on for too long, however, may make it difficult to rinse the chemicals from the surfaces completely. Once these chemicals dry, their activity ceases; however, moisture may reactivate any residue.

The information available on the labels and data sheets supplied with disinfectants and sanitizers will help you choose the right product for your needs. All products which are shipped interstate and claim to be sanitizers or disinfectants must be tested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and registered. If the chemical is produced locally and not shipped interstate, state laws apply. In general, state tests and label requirements are not as strong as those of the EPA.

The EPA recognizes two levels of disinfectant: those for use in "Hospitals and Institutions," and all others. Efficacy is higher and types of organisms killed are more varied for products labeled as suitable for use in hospitals and institutions.

The effectiveness of a formula against test organisms is described in two ways on the label:

The phenol coefficient test compares the activity of the product with a phenol used as a standard. The greatest dilution of the disinfectant killing the test organism is divided by the greatest dilution of the phenol standard showing the same results.
The use dilution test gives the actual amount of material in solution required to kill the test organism (usually in terms of ounces of material per gallon of water or parts per million). Since performance levels are different for sanitizing and disinfecting, there will be two different use dilutions on the label. The EPA prescribes any warning and caution statements on the label.

Test information on the labels and data sheets are laboratory test data. The amounts of chemical needed to do the job in your facility may be different. Determining actual levels requires a certain amount of trial and error, and constant monitoring.

Many cleaning chemicals are not compatible with others you may wish to use. Indiscriminate mixing of these can cause reactions hazardous to laboratory animals and the people responsible for their care.

Following are some guidelines for handling chemicals:

1. Store chemicals in a cool central area.
2. Responsibility for dispensing cleaning chemicals should be limited to supervisors; these supervisors must understand their use.
3. Always follow the instructions on the label. Higher use levels are rarely more effective and will probably be hazardous.
4. Never use the contents of an unlabeled container. Do not assume you know what is in the container -it is cheaper to waste the contents than make a mistake.
5. Never mix two chemicals unless the manufacturer authorizes you to do so: It can be hazardous. Combining bleach and ammonia, for instance, creates noxious fumes.
6. While it is wise to be on the lookout for new and improved products, do not accept samples unless you intend to evaluate them. A lot of unused samples lying around increases the chance of misuse.

Animal Records

Means of animal identification include room, rack, pen, stall, and cage cards with written or bar-coded information; collars, bands, plates, and tabs; colored stains; ear notches and tags; tattoos; subcutaneous transponders; and freeze brands. Toe-clipping, as a method of identification of small rodents, should be used only when no other individual identification method is feasible and should be performed only on altricial neonates. Identification cards should include the source of the animal, the strain or stock, names and locations of the responsible investigators, pertinent dates, and protocol number, when applicable. Animal records are useful and can vary in type, ranging from limited information on identification cards to detailed computerized records for individual animals.

Clinical records for individual animals can also be valuable, especially for dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, and farm animals. They should include pertinent clinical and diagnostic information, date of inoculations, history of surgical procedures and postoperative care, and information on experimental use. Basic demographic information and clinical histories enhance the value of individual animals for both breeding and research and should be readily accessible to investigators, veterinary staff, and animal care staff. Records of rearing histories, mating histories, and behavioral profiles are useful for the management of many species, especially nonhuman primates.

Records containing basic descriptive information are essential for management of colonies of large long-lived animals and should be maintained for each animal. These records often include species, animal identifier, sire identifier, dam identifier, sex, birth or acquisition date, source, exit date, and final disposition. Such animal records are essential for genetic management and historical assessments of colonies. Relevant recorded information should be provided when animals are transferred between institutions.
Source: Guide to the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals