Guidance on disease management in UW-owned animals (companion to policy 2007-033-v)
Disease management in laboratory animals
- Routine health monitoring (e.g., serology, parasite checks, PCR) of sentinel or colony animals is a vital part of disease management.
- Veterinarians must approve all sources of animals.
- Research personnel must move cages between animal rooms, labs, and/or facilities according to veterinarian-approved procedures, e.g. always move from “cleanest” areas to “less clean” areas.
- Users must disinfect procedure rooms, lab space, or shared equipment after each use.
- Users must always wear the required personal protective equipment. There are signs at the entrance to facilities and sometimes to individual rooms that will tell you what you must wear.
- Cell lines, tumors, hybridomas, sera, etc., should be tested by PCR for disease organisms before these materials are given to animals.
- Principal investigators must describe nonstandard housing, feed, bedding, and environmental enrichment in the animal use protocol. A research animal veterinarian must approve how each of these materials is disinfected or sterilized before use. Anything not described in approved facility standard operating procedures is considered “nonstandard.”
- Disease management in livestock
- Routine health monitoring (e.g., serology, parasite examinations, PCR) of herds and flocks is a vital part of disease management.
- Each unit should have biosecurity policies that are approved by the research animal veterinarian. These should describe:
- animal movement within and between units
- quarantine
- specific infectious disease screening and control
- new livestock disease screening
- an off-campus/foreign animal disease control measures (e.g., how long after foreign travel must people stay out of campus animal areas)
- Users must always wear the required personal protective equipment.
