Lab Animals and Disease Control in Healthcare Settings PDF

Lab Animals and disease control in Healthcare Settings Prof. Esam What are lab animals? • A laboratory animal model is a living organism in which normative biology or behavior can be studied, or in which a spontaneous or induced pathological process can be investigated, and in which the phenomenon...

Lab Animals and disease control in Healthcare Settings Prof. Esam What are lab animals? • A laboratory animal model is a living organism in which normative biology or behavior can be studied, or in which a spontaneous or induced pathological process can be investigated, and in which the phenomenon in one or more respects resembles the same phenomenon in humans or other species of animal (Wessler, 1976). • Laboratory animals or animals: Any vertebrate animal (e.g., traditional laboratory animals, agricultural animals, wildlife, and aquatic species) produced for or used in research, testing, or teaching. • Animal use: The proper care, use, and humane treatment of laboratory animals produced for or used in research, testing, or teaching. • Humane care means those actions taken to ensure that laboratory animals are treated according to high ethical and scientific standards. What are the common lab animals? • Types of Laboratory animals: Mice, Rats, Hamster, Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, Monkeys and Transgenic Fly are popular Laboratory animals. • Animals derived and grown in general environment but free from diseases communicable to human like mycobacteria, Dermatophytic fungi, Pasteurella and Sarcopts Scabiei. What is the purpose of lab animals? • The most important reason why animals are used is that it would be wrong to deliberately expose human beings to health risks in order to observe the course of a disease. • Animals are needed in research to develop drugs and medical procedures to treat diseases. • Animals in health-care facilities traditionally have been limited to laboratories and research areas. However, their presence in patient-care areas is now more frequent, both in acute-care and long-term care settings, prompting consideration for the potential transmission of zoonotic pathogens from animals to humans in these settings. • Although dogs and cats may be commonly encountered in health-care settings, other animals (e.g., fish, birds, non-human primates, • Animals potentially can serve as reservoirs for antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, which can be introduced to the health-care setting while the animal is present. • VRE have been isolated from both farm animals and pets, and a cat in a geriatric care center was found to be colonized with MRSA. Table 26. Examples of diseases associated with zoonotic transmission* (This table does not include vectorborne diseases.) Table 26B. Bacteria Table 26C. Parasites Table 26D. Fungi • Zoonoses can be transmitted from animals to humans either directly or indirectly via bites, scratches, aerosols, ectoparasites, accidental ingestion, or contact with contaminated soil, food, water, or unpasteurized milk. • Colonization and hand transferral of pathogens acquired from pets in health-care workers’ homes represent potential sources and modes of transmission of zoonotic pathogens in health-care settings. Health-care workers with pets at home • An outbreak of infections caused by a yeast (Malassezia pachydermatis) among newborns was traced to transfer of the yeast from the hands of health-care workers with pet dogs at home. • In addition, an outbreak of ringworm in a NICU caused by Microsporum canis was associated with a nurse and her cat, and an outbreak of Rhodococcus (Gordona) bronchialis sternal SSIs after coronary-artery bypass surgery was traced to a colonized nurse