Transcript ALAT Chapter 11 - AZ Branch AALAS Homepage

Chapter Eleven
Animal Procurement
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Signs & Prevention of Disease
 Goal of a health program is to avoid all healthrelated problems, so that accurate data can be
obtained with the least amount of discomfort and
minimum number of subjects
achieved through preventive medicine & colony-based
health care
 Technicians responsibility for maintaining by;
purchase & receipt of healthy animals
isolation & quarantine procedures
diagnostic health monitoring
recognizing abnormal condition
Animal Procurement
 Animals purchased from
suppliers who specialize in
breeding animals for research.
 Centralized purchasing helps facility managers
plan for adequate space, caging and supplies.
also for staff to maintain animals ordered by scientists
 Institutions restrict sources to those with health
screening programs & history of high-quality.
 Breeding own animals provides strains not
available & very young animals more available.
Purchasing animals from commercial suppliers,
however, is usually much more economical.
Transportation
 Ship by commercial air carriers or trucking firms.
Some use own specially equipped trucks
 AWA strictly regulates transportation of many types
of lab animals & some characteristics of shipping
carton material.
Sets size standards for containers & specifies number of
animals / box.
States how often food & water must be given during
shipment & temp range they may be subjected to.
Specifies shipping containers must have adequate
ventilation & allow enough room to turn & make normal
postural adjustments.
Shipment
 AWA also specifies standards for temperature,
cleanliness & ventilation in cargo terminal areas.
 Facilities can contract freight forwarding
companies to pick up their shipments from these
terminals and deliver them directly.
 Rodents & rabbits must be shipped in cartons
that have projecting spacers on the outside of
container to prevent blocked ventilation holes.
 Some suppliers use a moist mixture
of feed & water for rodents.
Others use watering devices such
as bags with small valves.
Large Animal Transport
 May be transported in specially built vehicles that
have compartments for individual animals.
 May also be shipped in conventional plastic,
fiberglass or aluminum transport cages that have
feed and water bowls.
 Nonhuman primates are usually shipped in wood
crates that have large screened windows for
ventilation and observation.
Microbiological Status
 Types of organisms that animal is carrying
 Conventional = an unknown, uncontrolled variety
& number of microorganisms, reared in open or
non-barrier rooms.
Normal requirements for maintenance are
conventional caging, bedding, feed & husbandry
practices.
 Germfree, gnotobiotic or specific pathogen free:
These are kept in facilities set up & maintained to
exclude microorganisms.
 Presence or absence of microorganisms is
determined by tests performed in a diagnostic
laboratory.
Germfree Animals
 Germfree or axenic animals harbor no detectable
bacteria, viruses or other microorganisms.
Bred, reared & maintained in sterile environment.
No bacteria in intestinal tract to aid in digestion.
Animals commonly have digestive problems.
 Defined flora or gnotobiotic animals are nearly
devoid of microbial life forms.
Deliberately given several varieties of harmless
bacteria to overcome some digestive problems.
DF animals must also be housed, handled and
transported in a sterile manner.
Specific Pathogen Free
 Carefully & routinely monitored to be sure they do
not harbor certain pathogenic or diseaseproducing microorganisms.
 Known to be free of specific pathogens, although
not necessarily free from all organisms.
 Usually maintained in barrier facilities.
 Important to learn which
specific pathogens an SPF
animal is free of before
placing it w/ animals having
a different microbiological status.
Receipt and Physical Examination
 Person receiving shipment observes and notes
condition of transport cages.
 Compares purchase orders & invoices to confirm
animals which arrived were ones expected.
 Confirms that complete delivery arrived.
 Animals examined by a veterinarian, veterinary
technician, or experienced lab animal technician
under supervision of a veterinarian.
Examination may be either brief or elaborate.
depends on suppliers’ animal health programs, health status
of the newly arrived & resident animals
 Compares contents with label information.
(Images) Animal Receipt
Receipt and Physical Examination II
 Closely examine for signs of hair loss, wounds,
diarrhea, discharges or other gross abnormalities.
 Note breed or strain, age, gender, supplier & total
number of animals received on ID records.
 Box may contain >1 strain or sex in sections.
Care must be taken not to mix different sexes or
strains when placing the animals in cages.
 Low weights could indicate dehydration or a
shipping error.
 Then take to quarantine & conditioning.
 A facility may require shipping crates be wiped
down w/ disinfectant before transfer into facility.
(Image) Mice in Shipping Box
Quarantine
 Time to recover from stress of shipment & to
acclimate to new surroundings.
Allows personnel to evaluate animals’ health status.
May be a few days to months, depending on species.
No experimental procedures are performed during this period.
 Time to evaluate baseline physiological data,
vaccinate & treat for overt disease.
 Care for known healthy animals in facility before
attending those in quarantine.
 After quarantine, a conditioning period is started.
Many facilities conduct parts of their conditioning
program simultaneously with animal quarantine.
(Image) Quarantine
Conditioning
 Refers to being placed under lighting, temp,
noise, handling & other physical conditions the
same as during experimentation.
 Helps minimize stress they might experience
during actual testing.
 Stressed animals secrete higher than normal
levels of certain hormones.
 Stress can have profound effects on normal
physiological data, such as hematologic & serum
biochemical values.
These differences could cause errors in research
results.
Health Maintenance
 Maintenance of health status is confirmed
through quality assurance & health monitoring
program.
 Involves monitoring health of animals as they
arrive from the supplier, as well as periodically
testing animals in facility.
 For dogs, this means making sure vaccinations
are up to date & checking for parasites.
 For primates, this will involve
a series of tuberculosis tests.
 For rodents, health monitoring
usually involves a sentinel program.
Additional Reading
Poole, Trevor (ed.). The UFAW Handbook on the
Care and Management of Laboratory Animals,
6th. Ed. Longman Scientific and Technical,
Essex, England. 1987.