Background:
The Guide for the Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals indicates that, “The frequency and intensity of cleaning
and disinfection should depend on what is needed to provide a healthy
environment for an animal.” The goal of this policy is to ensure that equipment
and instruments used with research animals are sanitized appropriately prior to
and after animal use and the efficacy of that sanitation is verified.
General Information:
· Equipment
that comes into direct contact with animals and cannot be sanitized in a cage
or rack washer, such as most behavioral apparatus, must be sanitized by hand
washing.
Responsibility:
The
Principal Investigator responsible for any equipment used with laboratory
animals is responsible for ensuring the effectiveness of the sanitization and
disinfection of the equipment.
· The
laboratory must develop an SOP for how each type of equipment/instrumentation
will be sanitized. The SOP should
include:
o
appropriate
PPE and any other relevant safety procedures.
o
A
description of the method used to confirm the efficacy of sanitization.
o
The
cleaning agent(s) to be used and contact time.
· The
Office of the Campus Veterinarian will test and confirm the efficacy of sanitization
for each type of equipment/apparatus.
Behavioral
Equipment:
Behavioral
equipment/chambers should be thoroughly cleaned with a disinfecting agent
between individual animals.
· Any
substrate used in behavioral chambers or behavioral equipment should be changed
between individual animals and replaced with fresh clean substrate.
Imaging
Equipment:
· Imaging
equipment should be thoroughly cleaned with a disinfecting agent between
individual animals.
Assessing the Efficacy of Sanitation:
According to the Guide for the Care and Use
of Laboratory Animals, “Whether the sanitation process is automated or
manual [e.g., hand washing], regular evaluation of sanitation effectiveness
should be performed.”
Therefore, the
efficacy of sanitation should be verified periodically by microbiological
monitoring or other appropriate methods and the data reviewed to ensure the
effectiveness of the method(s) used.
The Guide indicates
that the test can be: “microbiologic culture, the use of organic material
detection systems (e.g., adenosine triphosphate [ATP] bioluminescence), and/or
by confirming the removal of artificial soil applied to equipment surfaces
before washing.”
The efficacy of
the sanitization method described in the SOP must be confirmed every three
years for a specific type/model or equipment/apparatus.
If the
type/model of the equipment/apparatus is changed, or the method of sanitization
is changed, the efficacy must be tested again.
The Office of
the Campus Veterinarian may be contacted for assistance and consultation
regarding the method of sanitation.
References:
Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition,
National Research Council, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2011
Created and approved by the Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee on 11/16/20.