Lec3-Zoonotic Agents and Potential

Indigenous Zoonotic Agents
of Research Animals
Lecture 3
Zoonotic Infections
• Animals provide many benefits to people. Many people interact with animals in their daily
lives, both at home and away from home. Animals provide food, fiber, livelihoods, travel,
sport.
• Zoonoses or Zoonotic diseases are communicable diseases that can spread between
invertebrate animals and humans.
• Zoonotic diseases are caused by viruses, bacterial, parasites, and fungi. Zoonoses are
diseases that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans.
Transmission of these zoonotic agents may occur by three possible means.
1. The first is contact transmission, which occurs through ingestion, cutaneous,
percutaneous, or mucous membrane exposure.
2. The second is aerosol transmission in which the agent is transferred through the air and
deposited on the mucous membranes or in the respiratory tract.
3. The third is vector-borne transmission, which is unlikely to occur in a laboratory setting
where natural vectors of diseases are typically not present.
Mechanism of Infections
• Direct contact: Coming into contact with the saliva, blood, urine, mucous, feces, or other
body fluids of an infected animal. Examples include petting or touching animals, and bites
or scratches.
• Indirect contact: Coming into contact with areas where animals live and roam, or objects
or surfaces that have been contaminated with germs. Examples include aquarium tank
water, pet habitats, chicken coops, barns, plants, and soil, as well as pet food and water
dishes.
• Vector-borne: Being bitten by a tick, or an insect like a mosquito or a flea.
• Foodborne: Eating or drinking something unsafe, such as unpasteurized (raw) milk,
undercooked meat or eggs, or raw fruits and vegetables that are contaminated with feces
from an infected animal. Contaminated food can cause illness in people and animals,
including pets.
• Waterborne: Drinking or coming in contact with water that has been contaminated with
feces from an infected animal.
Occupational acquired Zoonotic infections
• Working with laboratory animals has inherent risks of zoonotic infections.

• The most common occupational hazard when working with laboratory animals is allergic
response to allergen exposure such as animal dander, hair, saliva, urine, serum, bedding.
Approximately 44% of animal workers affected from these allergens.
• In research animal facilities the hierarchy of potential hazard is categorized on the basis of
the animal species, source, and health quality.
• The wild-caught animals > random-source animals > known-source animals that have not
been raised in a controlled, disease-limited environment under an adequate program of
veterinary care.
• Research programs involved with the maintenance of these animals require effective
programs of disease detection, diagnosis, treatment, control, and prevention.
• It is necessary to investigate particular zoonotic hazards that might be associated with the
use of wild mammals or birds, or their fresh carcasses, before initiating full-scale research
or teaching efforts involving these species.
• Majority of rodents used in biomedical research and teaching are acquired from vendors
that maintain biosecurity to produce pathogen-free animal models.
• These animals are regularly screened for the presence of adventitious agents, including
potential zoonotic agents
• Many of the large species, such as cats, dogs, and ferrets, are acquired from purpose-
bred facilities that maintain strict biosecurity to minimize disease in their colonies.
However, there are still some species, particularly the larger species, such as NHPs
(Nonhuman primates), wild-caught animals, and acquired livestock, that pose the
greatest zoonotic threat.
• Many institutions pre-screen animals.
• With enhanced biosecurity practices and the use of pathogen free and prescreened
animals prior to arrival, the risk of acquiring a naturally occurring zoonotic disease while
working with laboratory animals is very low.
• Nonetheless, natural pathogens can still enter the animal facility by way of research
personnel, husbandry staff, newly arrived animals, insects, and vermin.
• Any microbial infection typically result in subclinical disease, but they can have a significant,
negative impact on research results. Many of the zoonotic agents encountered in laboratory
animals are not reportable, which makes assessing the exposure risk difficult.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists 62 nationally notifiable infectious
conditions, and only 11 of those are identified as conditions that may be acquired from
laboratory animals.
• Anthrax • Q fever
• Brucellosis • Rabies
• Cryptosporidiosis • Salmonellosis
• Giardiasis • Shigellosis
• Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome • Tuberculosis
• Psittacosis
Reducing Zoonotic Risks
• The standard precautions to minimize exposure are based on personal hygiene, protective
clothing, and preventing animal-related injuries .
• The majority of laboratory animal facilities work with animals at an ABSL2 level.
• Animal Biosafety Level 2 (ABSL-2) is suitable for work involving laboratory animals infected
with agents associated with human disease and pose moderate hazards to personnel and
the environment.
Standard Precautions in ABSL-2 laboratory
• Gloves provide an additional layer of protection to the skin and should be worn when
coming into contact with animals, their bodily fluids, and caging. They should be changed
between groups of animals and between clean and dirty procedures.
• Once gloves are removed, hands should be thoroughly washed with antimicrobial soap
and water to remove agents mechanically and reduce their ability to replicate. This could
be followed by a 60–95% alcohol based hand sanitizer.
• Perform this practice always after working with animals and removing gloves.
Reducing Zoonotic Potential
• Sleeved garments are recommended to be used with gloves, such as a laboratory coat or
long-sleeved scrubs dedicated to animal care. This will minimize the chances for the skin
on the forearms to become exposed to bites or scratches.
• When using long-sleeved garments, it is best to have a cuffed sleeve to keep the sleeve in
position and to prevent smaller rodents from escaping up the arm.
• Facial protection should be used whenever potential for splashes or sprays may occur to
prevent the exposure of mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Surgical masks may provide some protection against mucous membrane exposure, but
they do not provide adequate respiratory protection from particulate antigens such as
viruses and bacteria.
• Respirators certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) are typically worn in laboratory animal facilities to minimize
the exposure to respiratory pathogens.
• Other items, such as footwear or foot protection and head covers, may be used by
research facilities as a standard of practice when working with animals for
biosecurity or biocontainment purposes to further reduce the risk of disease
transmission
• Physical restraints, bite-resistant gloves, acclimation, and training are all methods to
minimize animal-related injuries.
• One common practice in laboratory animal facilities for handling animals infected
with an ABSL3 agent is to use tongs or forceps to transfer mice during a cage
change.
• The forceps or tongs are dipped in disinfectant, and the mice are grasped by the
base of the tail and placed in a new cage.
• For larger species (NHPs, dogs, cats) methods could be used to train the animals for
handling or gentle restraint.
• Environmental infection control is another key aspect to consider to minimize the

exposure to zoonotic agents.
• Routine cleaning and disinfection are common practices in the laboratory animal facility.
• The disinfectant used should be specific for the pathogen and used according to the label
with proper contact time.
• The most common disinfectants used in the laboratory animal facility are quaternary
ammonium compounds, hydrogen peroxide-based compounds, and chlorine-based
compounds.
• Animal holding facilities are designed with materials that are nonporous and easily
cleaned to help facilitate disinfection. In addition, they are designed to replace the air very
frequently, having 10–15 air changes per hour. This reduces the contaminants (allergens,
odors, agents) in the room.
• Laboratory animal facilities provide a dedicated break room for eating and storing human
food. Food or drink for personnel is never permitted in a laboratory animal facility.
• A properly managed laboratory animal facility has a robust and highly functional
occupational health program.
• When working with a known infectious agent, particularly one that is zoonotic, the risk
assessment should consider a number of variables. The characteristics of the agents should
be evaluated, such as the dose-response relationship, virulence, communicability,
prevalence, route of exposure, and shedding, as well as the stability of the agent in the
environment and its susceptibility to disinfection.
• As per requirement by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
managements of many labs keep the documentations of pathogen exposure for suggesting
improvements to prevent future exposures.
• Staff training and education are critical components to any infection control program.
• Despite the rarity of encountering zoonotic agents in contemporary research animal
colonies, Sometime several specific zoonotic pathogens remained persisted after earlier
infection incidents and reintroduced into new animal colonies due to deficiencies in proper
organizational procedures, facility design, and equipment maintenance.
• In those animal research laboratories where expensive, sensitive, and often irreplaceable,
genetically manipulated mutant mice are use the impact of colony contamination can be
devastating for the whole research program.
• An understanding of how the more common zoonotic agents present in the animal hosts and
how they are transmitted to personnel will allow biosafety professionals to perform risk
assessment to mitigate against exposure.
Quiz
• Prepare the detail ( pathogenic agent, host, its reservoir, mode of transmission, clinical
signs, diagnosis and prevention) following diseases for quiz.
• Anthrax
• Brucellosis
• Cryptosporidiosis
• Giardiasis
• Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome
• Psittacosis
• Q fever
• Rabies
• Salmonellosis
• Shigellosis
• Tuberculosis

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Indigenous Zoonotic Agents

• Working with laboratory animals has inherent risks of zoonotic infections.

• Environmental infection control is another key aspect to consider to minimize the

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