Lab Animal

Question 1

What are the clinical duties of a lab animal vet?

Answer 1

1. treat spontaneous and experimentally-induced diseases in many different species
2. facility management (preventative health, quarantine, import/export, biosecurity)
3. training and research support (procedures/surgery, animal husbandry, experimental procedures)
4. regulatory oversight (ensure adherence to federal regulations)
5. specific institutional duties (animal use protocols, inspect animal facilities)

Question 2

It is mandated by law that every institution that uses animals must have a(n) _________. This entails inspection of every place an animal is housed/brought every 6 months, reviewing animal use protocols, and ensuring compliance of all federal regulations.

Answer 2

IACUC (institutional animal care and use committee)

Question 3

Which of the following animals is NOT covered by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)? choose all that apply
a. dog
b. cat
c. rodents bred for research
d. hamsters and guinea pigs
e. rabbits
f. farm animals
g. non-human primates
h. goldfish

Answer 3

c. rodents bred for research
f. farm animals
h. goldfish (and any other cold-blooded animal)

Question 4

Who enforces the AWA?

Answer 4

the USDA

they do annual unannounced inspections

Question 5

What does the AWA cover?

Answer 5

specific size and sanitation of enclosures, transport, exercise programs, and psychological enrichment programs

Question 6

What animals does the Public Health Service Policy cover?

Answer 6

ALL animals used in PHS-funded research (NIH, CDC, FDA, NSF)

Question 7

who enforces the Public Health Service Policy?

Answer 7

NIH’s office of labratory animal welfare (OLAW)

Question 8

T/F: OLAW has official oversight of the public health service policy

Answer 8

false – no oversight, they do self-policing

Question 9

Who enforces Good Laboratory Practices (GLP)?

Answer 9

FDA

Question 10

In what scenario would you need to follow by Good Laboratory Practices (GLP)?

Answer 10

if you have intent to submit an application to FDA for drug or medical devices

Question 11

T/F: Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory and Animal Care (AAALAC) is a voluntary accreditation.

Answer 11

true

Question 12

How often do site visits occur under the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory and Animal Care (AAALAC)?

Answer 12

every 3 years

Question 13

what does Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory and Animal Care (AAALAC) accreditation ensure?

Answer 13

meeting standards required by law
going extra step to achieve excellence in animal care and use

Question 14

___________ is all measures taken to prevent, identify, contain, and eradicate known or unknown infections that may cause clinical disease or alter physiologic and behavioral responses or otherwise make the animals unsuitable for research

Answer 14

biosecurity

Question 15

What are 2 reasons we want to keep pathogens out of a rodent facility?

Answer 15

1. sick animals do not make good research models
2. welfare issues

Question 16

Your rodent lab is filled with immunocompromised animals being used for research. Which pressurization would be most appropriate – negative or positive to the hallway?

Answer 16

positive because we want the air to rush OUT instead of IN. rushing in would increase the risk of potential pathogens being introduced to these immunocompromised animals.

Question 17

Your rodent lab is filled with animals that are sick. Which pressurization would be most appropriate – negative or positive to the hallway?

Answer 17

negative to the hallway. This way, pathogens will be kept IN the room as opposed to being pushed out and potentially spreading them to other areas/labs/animals.

Question 18

Which of the following rooms should you visit first? Which would you visit last?

a. mouse colony with primarily neonates
b. mouse colony infected with a virus
c. rat colony used for behavior studies
d. mouse colony used for breeding

Answer 18

first – a. mouse colony with primarily neonates
last – b. mouse colony infected with a virus

ideally, you’d want to visit the breeding mouse colony second (as to not switch species), and then the rat colony used for behavior studies prior to entering the sick mice room.

Question 19

What are IVCs?

Answer 19

individually ventilated cages

Question 20

How can you prevent disease by use of food and water in laboratory animals?

Answer 20

you can treat food and water
you can irradiate or autoclave food
you can hyper-chlorinate or acidify water

Question 21

describe the quarantine process for lab animals

Answer 21

before animals are allowed to enter from another institution, health reports and facility practices are reviewed.
once animals are approved to be shipped, they are placed into quarantine.
for 4 weeks in quarantine, they are tested for different rodent pathogens before being allowed into the main facility

Question 22

what air pressurization should a quarantine room have relative to the hallway?

Answer 22

negative

Question 23

health monitoring in lab animals provides objective results for biosecurity efforts designed to prevent rodent populations from being exposed to pathogens.
We typically test for rodent-specific bacteria, viruses, endo- and ectoparasites. How often do we test?

Answer 23

quarterly

Question 24

This surveillance method is described as:
- sentinel mice (immunocompetent) are exposed to weekly to dirty bedding of the research mice
- quarterly mice are euthanized, necropsied, and tested for disease by serology

Answer 24

dirty bedding sentinel

Question 25

This surveillance method is described as:
- swabbing exhaust and air ducts from mouse IVC rack for disease (PCR-based)

Answer 25

environmental testing

Question 26

Dirty bedding sentinel surveillance method is good because it allows us to directly test animals, necropsy animals, and take daily surveys of health.
What are the biggest cons of the dirty bedding sentinel surveillance method?

Answer 26

• some agents are not transmitted by soiled bedding
• animal use required

Question 27

the environmental testing surveillance program uses DNA detection, which can detect dead DNA, so we cannot know if the pathogens we are detecting are alive or not. That is a con of this program.

what are the pros of this surveillance program?

Answer 27

• reduce animal usage
• more sensitive for certain pathogens

Question 28

Is there a Hybrid surveillance program (combine dirty bedding and environmental testing) and if there is, how does it work?

Answer 28

yes
1st and 3rd quarter – do environmental air duct sampling and direct fecal collection from experiment animals

2nd and 4th quarter – dirty bedding sentinels

Question 29

You conduct a surveillance program and identify a rodent pathogen during the quarterly health monitoring – What is the very next step?

Answer 29

re-test to confirm

use an alternative assay method (ex. if you used serology, confirm with PCR)

Question 30

how do we contain a pathogen if we have found one within the rodent lab?

Answer 30

1. stop movement of animals and people, supplies, etc. LIMIT ACCESS
2. change facility practices (increase sanitation)
3. more frequent testing of animals
4. stop breeding

Question 31

what are the steps to ‘eradicate’ a pathogen from a lab?

Answer 31

1. depopulate
2. disinfect (and confirm it was effective)
3. repopulate with new, clean animals

other option: test and cull (long process) or treat the infection (consider if this will disqualify them from the research)

Question 32

What are the ‘rederivation’ options for eradicating disease from your lab?

Answer 32

1. rederivation of lines
2. cross foster rederivation (placing pups with clean mom)
3. embryo transfer rederivation (place embryos in clean mom)
4. c-section rederivation (place c-section pups with clean mom)

Question 33

When do you consider an outbreak to be “over” within a lab?

Answer 33

2 consecutive negative screens of 100% of cages.

Question 34

What are ways to PREVENT pathogens from entering a lab? (10 things)

Answer 34

1. facility design (clean vs dirty areas)
2. air lock at entry and exit
3. restricted access
4. pressurization of rooms in facility
5. adhering to “room order” (visit clean first, then dirty)
6. sanitation and verification
7. PPE
8. IVCs
9. husbandry practices – treated or altered food, water
10. quarantine