Lecture: Safety levels (zoonosis, allergy, BHL)
Health monitoring is very important to get an idea on the sanitary state of a certain
colony of animals. It is also very important for your variability and to reduce the use of
animals.
To monitor your sanitary state in your animal unit, you have to take samples and
measure these but these samples must be representative. Then you have to think what is
your biological entity? Not the experimental entity but where is my microbial unit.
Health monitoring
Policy:
- Microbial standardization
- Good laboratory practice (GLP)
What is your unit?
- Self-contained microbiological entity (not experimental entity). You must take a
sample that is representative for all.
o Total animal facility
o Animal unit
o Individual ventilated cages
Monitoring traffic:
- Place your newly bought animals in quarantine to see if they are healthy before
you mix them with your other animals
Monitoring animals:
- Sentinel animals à in case your experimental animals are to expensive
- FELASA suggests:
o 3 monthly short monitoring system setup
o 1 yearly long monitoring system setup
Risks
Risks – Physical
I. You can be scratched or bitten by the animals. Handling the animals
correctly will decrease the chance of you getting bitten or scratched.
II. Sharp objects can propose harm and thus need to be treated with care.
Dispose of them immediately after use in the special (yellow) containers.
Leave the lid when you dispose it otherwise you increase the chance of
getting punctured.
III. Inflammable material
IV. Light or very loud noise
a. Piglets can scream very loud à use ear protectors
Risks – Chemical
I. Injection accidents occur a lot.
II. Disinfectants and anesthetics
a. Direct risks:
i. Inflammable, corrosive, explosive
b. Delayed risks:
i. Carcinogenic, renal toxicity, liver toxicity
Saif Haify Laboratory Animal Science – Summary 6-November-2015
, Special care must be taken when using gas anesthetics since you can’t see these gasses.
If you do not have a good exhaust system to get rid of your gas anesthetic, then this
might affect your biological functioning.
Risks – Allergy
The risk of developing an allergy against animal allergens is about 10-15% chance.
Caretakers (56%) that interact on daily bases with animals also develop allergies and
developing an allergy is considered as a professional disease among caretakers!
Allergens
In urine of rodents we see the highest concentration of allergens.
In guinea pigs we see the highest concentration of allergens in the urine, saliva and
hair.
Symptoms
You have two forms of symptoms:
I. Acute
a. Sneezing, dripping nose, red eyes, itch, urticarial reaction
b. Asthmatic symptoms à breath heavily
II. Chronic
a. Dermatitis
b. Asthma
Prognosis
If you have an allergy for one species, you are more likely to develop allergies for
different species (allergy for 1 species à allergy for different species). People that are
already allergic for cats and dogs can also develop an allergy when they start working
with rodents. Especially when having a chronic allergy, this can have a great impact on
your life quality.
Prevention
Always make a risk profile of your tasks according to this table
Together with making a risk profile of your tasks, it is very important to pay attention to
the logistics in case of prevention:
Saif Haify Laboratory Animal Science – Summary 6-November-2015
Health monitoring is very important to get an idea on the sanitary state of a certain
colony of animals. It is also very important for your variability and to reduce the use of
animals.
To monitor your sanitary state in your animal unit, you have to take samples and
measure these but these samples must be representative. Then you have to think what is
your biological entity? Not the experimental entity but where is my microbial unit.
Health monitoring
Policy:
- Microbial standardization
- Good laboratory practice (GLP)
What is your unit?
- Self-contained microbiological entity (not experimental entity). You must take a
sample that is representative for all.
o Total animal facility
o Animal unit
o Individual ventilated cages
Monitoring traffic:
- Place your newly bought animals in quarantine to see if they are healthy before
you mix them with your other animals
Monitoring animals:
- Sentinel animals à in case your experimental animals are to expensive
- FELASA suggests:
o 3 monthly short monitoring system setup
o 1 yearly long monitoring system setup
Risks
Risks – Physical
I. You can be scratched or bitten by the animals. Handling the animals
correctly will decrease the chance of you getting bitten or scratched.
II. Sharp objects can propose harm and thus need to be treated with care.
Dispose of them immediately after use in the special (yellow) containers.
Leave the lid when you dispose it otherwise you increase the chance of
getting punctured.
III. Inflammable material
IV. Light or very loud noise
a. Piglets can scream very loud à use ear protectors
Risks – Chemical
I. Injection accidents occur a lot.
II. Disinfectants and anesthetics
a. Direct risks:
i. Inflammable, corrosive, explosive
b. Delayed risks:
i. Carcinogenic, renal toxicity, liver toxicity
Saif Haify Laboratory Animal Science – Summary 6-November-2015
, Special care must be taken when using gas anesthetics since you can’t see these gasses.
If you do not have a good exhaust system to get rid of your gas anesthetic, then this
might affect your biological functioning.
Risks – Allergy
The risk of developing an allergy against animal allergens is about 10-15% chance.
Caretakers (56%) that interact on daily bases with animals also develop allergies and
developing an allergy is considered as a professional disease among caretakers!
Allergens
In urine of rodents we see the highest concentration of allergens.
In guinea pigs we see the highest concentration of allergens in the urine, saliva and
hair.
Symptoms
You have two forms of symptoms:
I. Acute
a. Sneezing, dripping nose, red eyes, itch, urticarial reaction
b. Asthmatic symptoms à breath heavily
II. Chronic
a. Dermatitis
b. Asthma
Prognosis
If you have an allergy for one species, you are more likely to develop allergies for
different species (allergy for 1 species à allergy for different species). People that are
already allergic for cats and dogs can also develop an allergy when they start working
with rodents. Especially when having a chronic allergy, this can have a great impact on
your life quality.
Prevention
Always make a risk profile of your tasks according to this table
Together with making a risk profile of your tasks, it is very important to pay attention to
the logistics in case of prevention:
Saif Haify Laboratory Animal Science – Summary 6-November-2015
