Question
# 1887 |
Is it best to clean the animals who have already passed their 2 week quarantine period and are in the "healthy animal" areas first and clean the new arrival quarantine animals second? Or should you clean and care for the new arrivals who are in quarantine first? We vaccinate all incoming animals the day of intake but I know that even in the best of situations it can take 5-7 days for the vaccines to become effective. Is there more of a risk for our vaccinated healthy dogs to catch something from our new arrivals (via fomites etc) or should we clean and care for the new arrivals first so that we do not carry any fomites or other diseases to our new arrivals that our "healthy" animals may have passed onto our clothes.
We also do isolation of known sick animals last, but there has been some confusions as to if we should take care of healthy animals first or the new arrivals first. |
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Date question was answered: 2010-04-12 |
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Answer |
Thank you for submitting your question about cleaning order. Cleaning areas in the proper sequence can be a powerful tool in minimizing spread of disease in your shelter. Cleaning should always start with the more vulnerable animals, such as young, healthy puppies and kittens then move toward the older, less vulnerable animals. Areas known to be dirty or highly infectious, such as the isolation ward with sick animals, should be cleaned last. It is important for staff to change protective garments between areas, especially for puppies and kittens and also have different garments for working with the sick animals. For example, when the staff are cleaning the isolation areas, they should wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE-such as scrubs or coveralls that can be washed in hot water and bleach and rubber boots that can be more easily disinfected than regular tennis shoes or street shoes) to minimize their risk of becoming a walking fomite. I suggest clean garments and PPE be provided for staff to help insure their use. A good flow order for cleaning is adoptable puppies and kittens, then stray healthy puppies and kittens, adoptable adult animals, stray healthy adults, and finally the quarantine then isolation areas. Given the scenario you provided then, the animals that have already passed through their quarantine period and have been placed in your healthy animal areas should be cleaned before the animals in your quarantine area but remember to consider your vulnerable groups within those populations and clean the younger animals before the adults. Additionally, animals that have arrived in the previous 3-5 days are potentially more vulnerable since they may still be responding to their intake vaccinations. Thus you may want to arrange your order of cleaning such that these animals are cleaned before the animals that have been at your facility longer. How are you using your quarantine area? True quarantine is achieved when all the animals enter the holding area at the same time, remain for the length of the quarantine (which is typically the incubation period for diseases of concern in your population) and then leave together assuming none showed clinical signs of disease during the quarantine period. If new animals are added to the quarantine/holding area each day, this is not a true quarantine. Depending on your shelter's mission and design, a two-week quarantine for all incoming animals may or may not be advisable. For example, for a limited admission facility that only takes in animals from other shelters once a week with separate wards for housing intakes that come in on the same date and can house them together for two-weeks without adding more animals during that time, this type of quarantine may be a good option. However, for an open admission shelter with only one holding area for all incoming animals (strays, owner surrendered, legal cases, etc.) in which animals are added to the holding area daily, a two-week quarantine is not feasible. In this scenario, it may be more advisable to move clinically healthy and adoptable strays to the adoption area as soon as their legal hold period is up as they are more likely to be exposed to infectious diseases during a two-week quarantine since new animals are added to their population regularly. I have provided some resources below for further information. Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions. Thank you. Resources: • Maddie's Infection Control Manual for Animal Shelters for Veterinary Personnel : • Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff edited by Lila MillerLaura Andersen, DVM Shelter Medicine Resident Maddie's Shelter Medicine University of Florida |
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Question
# 1803 |
We are trying very hard to cut down on our shelter cat sickness. We are using Trifectant and first washing the cages and carriers with soap and water, rinsing and then spraying with the disinfectant. I have read your information on cleaning but wanted to make sure the thorough soap and water cleaning should be done before applying the Trifectant. And is it good to use a foot pan with the disinfectant to clean shoes going in and out of room? |
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Date question was answered: 2010-01-13 |
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Answer |
Thank you for your questions Judy. A proactive approach to reducing illness in your shelter cat population covers many subjects. I will first address your specific questions then offer some other suggestions that may be helpful in reaching your overall goal.
Trifectant is among the best disinfectants to use in the shelter setting and is less corrosive than bleach. For thorough cage cleaning and disinfection between different cats, your current protocol of cleaning with soap and water first then applying Trifectant is ideal as this will remove more organic debris than if Trifectant alone is used for both cleaning and disinfecting. Thorough cat cage cleaning is important enough and infrequent enough that more careful cleaning is warranted to remove organic matter that might not be inactivated by Trifectant. Remember after thorough cleaning, the disinfectant must be applied and allowed sufficient contact time to be effective. With Trifectant, it is necessary to allow 10 minutes of contact time before rinsing or you can achieve some residual activity if the Trifectant is simply allowed to dry. Be mindful that products like Trifectant have a limited shelf-life and must be made fresh regularly according to the manufacturers' specifications. In the case of Trifectant, this is every 7 days.
While Trifectant is preferable to bleach for use in foot pans, foot pans are largely ineffective and can be detrimental if they give staff a false sense of security. The pans can become contaminated themselves and require frequent cleaning and changing of disinfectant. For quarantine and isolation areas, it is better to have dedicated boots or shoe covers than to use foot baths.
Remember that cages are not the only places where your shelter cats can be exposed to infectious disease agents. Commonly touched surfaces, such as doorknobs, countertops, light switches, cage handles and doors, even the handle or pump on the hand-sanitizer dispenser can all become contaminated and serve as a source for re-contaminating the hands of staff, volunteers and visitors and need to be disinfected regularly as well. Viruses such as Feline Panleukopenia and Calicivirus can be transmitted on the clothing of your staff as they go from cage to cage cleaning. In fact, Calicivirus has been found in the hairshaft of infected cats and can spread via these infected hairs! The best approach is to have separate staff clean quarantine/isolation areas and holding/adoption areas. If this is not possible, then cleaning order should be structured such that the animals most at risk are cleaned first, such as kittens, then healthy cats and finally those in quarantine and isolation. If this is also not possible, then the next best option is to have staff change their clothing and gloves between these different areas. In addition, it is crucial that all sick cats are removed from the general population and placed in isolation.
Lastly, stress management is extremely important in assuring overall health in shelter cats. For a cat that remains in its current cage and has not significantly soiled its cage, it is not be necessary to thoroughly disinfect the cage daily and spot cleaning alone for these cats can help minimize the stress they experience.
Here are some great resources that may be helpful:
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Question
# 1635 |
When we happen to get dogs in the Kennel with kennel cough, many of the other dogs get it. We do not have a quarantine section. We treat with Doxy and Cough suppressant. Right now we do not vaccinate but i do wonder if we did vaccinate on arrival or a day after if that would give the dogs any advantage since they are going right in to the main kennel.I also wonder how effective bleach baths would be as the kennel tech will go from one dog to another and though the shoes may be clean, they will have had dogs jumping on them and easily could pass infection by their clothing. |
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Date question was answered: 2009-07-10 |
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Answer |
First, I'd like to make sure that you have read the page on our website on canine infectious respiratory disease. Our website also has some previously-answered FAQs on this topic. To review these, go to our FAQ page and enter the following numbers in the "Search FAQ" box, one at a time: 846, 813, 127. It is difficult to give you definitive recommendations without knowing for sure what disease you are dealing with. Most shelters deal with respiratory disease in dogs, at least from time to time. In many cases, it is just regular "kennel cough." But not always.
One of the main pathogens that causes "kennel cough" (Bordetella bronchiseptica) tends to have a lot of different strains that vary in how virulent they are. So, a run of particularly severe canine respiratory disease could just mean that a particularly severe strain of Bordetella is going around.
However, it is notoriously difficult to distinguish "kennel cough" from canine distemper. If neurologic signs such as tremors or seizures develop in sick dogs, that's usually a pretty good sign that a shelter is dealing with canine distemper, but a lack of neurologic signs doesn't necessarily mean that distemper isn't present. Making the distinction can require diagnostic tests (necropsy is often the most straightforward, especially when the decision to euthanize has already been made, or when animals have died), but we can also sometimes get a better idea by looking at the way the disease behaves in the population.
Bordetella is ubiquitous; nearly all shelters probably deal with it at some level. Distemper tends to occur in geographic "pockets;" shelters in some communities (usually communities with high levels of vaccination) never see it, and in shelters in communities with low levels of vaccination, it is often a constant problem. Canine influenza has not been seen at all in most areas of the country, and when it is seen, it tends to occur in epidemic proportions (i.e. nearly every single dog in the shelter gets sick with it).
Canine distemper tends to be more common in puppies and unvaccinated adults, but can also affect adults that are exposed to high levels of the virus before vaccination has had time to kick in (i.e. previously unvaccinated dogs that are vaccinated on admission, but are admitted to a shelter that has a high level of canine distemper.) This can be difficult to recognize, though, because about half of dogs that become infected with canine distemper are either asymptomatic or show only mild respiratory signs (indistinguishable from "kennel cough.") Bordetella tends to be a bit more equal-opportunity - it can affect puppies or adults, and vaccination can help reduce the chance of disease, or severity of disease, but doesn't eliminate it completely. Canine influenza will affect all dogs equally - puppies or adults, vaccinated or unvaccinated, and again, tends to occur in epidemic proportions.
There are some general recommendations that are important for the prevention, reduction and control of canine infectious respiratory disease in shelters: supporting the ability of dogs to ward off disease and reducing the level of disease-causing pathogens dogs are exposed to. The following strategies can be used to accomplish these goals: complete and appropriate vaccination protocols, careful isolation practices, stress reduction, avoidance of crowding, reducing the average length of shelter stays, effective sanitation, and prevention of airway irritation (e.g. by minimizing barking, cleaning in such a way that airborne irritants are reduced, and maintaining good air quality.)
The best way for your to improve disease control in a shelter situation like you describe would be to vaccinate all animals on intake. This is important for primarily the parvo component of the vaccine, but giving a Bordetella vaccine as well may decrease the severity of kennel cough in your shelter. Vaccinating on intake is a critical component of good infectious disease control. Here is some more information regarding vaccination:
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_vaccination.shtml#top3
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_infectious_tracheobronchitis_canine.shtml#top
There is also a good webinar on kennel cough by our faculty member, Dr. Sandra Newbury at the following site:
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/education/webinars.php#top4
Regarding your question about footbaths. Bleach is not the best choice to use for foot baths. The primary reason for this is that bleach is inactivated in the presence of organic material, such as feces, food, urine, and just plain old dirt. Foot baths usually become quickly contaminated by such organic material. Potassium peroxymonosulfate (trade name Trifectant or Virkon) or Wysiwash are often better disinfectant choices for foot baths, because their disinfectant activity is less affected by the presence of organic material.
All that said, I must tell you that foot baths, regardless of the disinfectant used, should not be relied upon very heavily to prevent spread of germs through the shelter. Studies of foot baths show that even when these are consistently used, they do an imperfect job of preventing disease transmission. Ideally, shoes should be scrubbed as well as dipped in a foot bath, and this is rarely practical in a shelter. A contact time of 10 minutes or so is recommended for most disinfectants - a quick dip of shoe treads into disinfectant may not be adequate. If not replenshed or refilled frequently enough, foot baths tend to dry out. We have seen shelters in which foot baths consisted of litterboxes containing a towels just slightly dampened with disinfectant - these are ineffective at best, and the slight moisture on shoes might actually promote growth of germs. Foot bath disinfectant should be deep enough to cover shoe treads, and foot baths should be changed daily or more often if heavily soiled. When it really counts, such as when actually treating animals for a highly infectious disease such as parvo or ringworm in a shelter, dedicated boots or disposable shoe covers are preferred.
If you have not done so already, please review the cleaning and disinfection sections of our website:
www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_cleaning.shtml#top3
Be sure to also look through an 18-page review of sanitation in shelters, called "Saving Lives Through Sanitation" also available on that web page.
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Question
# 1599 |
Does Roccal- D and/or KennlSol kill Giardia?
I want to be sure we are killing bacteria, viruses but also Giardia.
I want to pick the best/safest product for the staff,patients and the environment.
Look forward to your reply.
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Date question was answered: 0000-00-00 |
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Answer |
Roccal-D anf KennelSol are quaternary ammonium cleaner/disinfectant and are effective against Giardia cysts. However, contrary to many manufacturers’ claims quaternary ammonium products are not reliable disinfectants against un-enveloped viruses such as canine parvovirus and feline panleukopeniavirus, feline calicivirus, or fungi such as ringworm. This has been repeatedly shown in independent studies.
That being said quaternary ammonium products are perfectly good cleaners and can be used in kennels that do not have parvo/panleukopenia/calicivirus problems.
Another good option is to “bring on the bleach” as a disinfectant to use after cleaning with a quaternary ammonium product if these viruses are suspected.
One thing to keep in minds if you decide to continue using a quaternary ammonium product is that it is very important to ensure they are used at the appropriate concentration. Using a higher concentration of quaternary ammonium disinfectants raises toxicity issues in animals. Like many active chemicals, disinfectants are not without the potential for harm. At minimum, use of disinfectants at excessively high concentrations can create respiratory irritation for animals and staff, and some chemicals (such as quaternary ammonium (Grier 1967; Trapani, Brooks et al. 1982) and phenol disinfectants (Rousseaux, Smith et al. 1986), e.g. Pine-sol®) can actually be fatal when applied incorrectly. We have even been called in to investigate “outbreaks” of severe oral ulceration, fever and malaise in cats that turned out not to be due to a virus but to exposure to incorrectly diluted quaternary ammonium disinfectants.
I hope this information is useful.
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Question
# 1535 |
Maddie's Infection Control Manual for Animal Shelters notes heat is a "fairly reliable method of sterilization" (p. 50-51) and that moist heat (steam) is even more effective than dry heat. The small shelter where I volunteer currently mostly uses bleach. However, the drawbacks I see are that it is often mixed with detergent -which I understand deactivates it. Also, the environmental impact of bleach is a concern. So, wonder steam cleaning would be as effective?. Also, any feedback on ultraviolet lighting? |
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Date question was answered: |
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Answer |
I don't have any personal experience using steam cleaners in shelters, but it is not something we generally recommend that shelters implement on a regular basis. Steam cleaning most definitely can be beneficial in certain circumstances, but we do not recommend them as the method of cleaning for several reasons.
• Steam cleaning requires more staff time in order to achieve minimum contact time per area. Using a good disinfectant e.g. Trifectant allows for larger areas to be cleaned
more quickly.
• The amount of water and heat used may be expensive and / or increase shelter humidity.
• Due to the noise and heat the entire area must be cleared of animals, again increasing staff time and work.
• In order to kill viruses such as panleukopenia you need to achieve temperatures of 133-140 degrees F for 20-40 minutes.
Many of the steam cleaners one can rent or buy use hot tap water which would be ineffective in regards to some of the hardier germs we battle with in shelters as they do not generate enough heat.
If you have rooms with furniture and / or carpets where animals are housed, such as group housing for cats, or home environments for dogs, it may be appropriate to use a steam cleaner for cleaning before new animals are introduced, or if the room has been exposed to a suspect or confirmed infectious animal (i.e. parvo, ringworm).
In regards to UV light: UV light is used to kill airborne pathogens (which is relatively unimportant in disease transmission in a shelter, especially in cats), but doesn't actually improve air quality, because it doesn't remove particles such as dust from the air. Also keep in mind that shelter diseases are primarily transmitted by fomites rather than through airborne germs rather than through the air. UV-light would not prevent this kind of disease transmission.
Kennel cough and URI tend flourish in dog and cat populations that are crowded and stressed. Poor air quality and lack of good immunity also contribute significantly. If the shelter is struggling with URI and kennel cough, there are most likely other improvements that could be made, which are less expensive than UV lights, and would probably be much more effective. If we were to focus on air quality, there are 3 main approaches that may be taken to improve air quality, listed below in order of effectiveness:
1. Reduce sources of air pollution - decrease housing density, change litter-boxes frequently, use low dust litter, avoid zealous sweeping or spraying of disinfectant.
2. Improve ventilation - increase the amount of fresh air through open windows, outdoor spaces, ventilation systems.
3. Air cleaning with filters. This may be a helpful adjunct when increased ventilation is not an option. Air filters are the least effective strategy, and UV lights are probably even less effective.
Generally I would recommend using bleach or Trifectant for disinfection as they are both parvocidal and effective against feline calicivirus. Bleach is generally no inactivated by soap (it should not be mixed with quaternary ammonias though), but it will be inactivated by organic material. It is thus recommended to use as a second step, after mechanically cleaning with a detergent. If your shelter staff prefers using a one-step cleaning protocol you may want to consider switching to Trifectant or Bruclean.
I hope this is helpful. |
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Question
# 1532 |
I am the co-director of a small animal shelter in Connecticut. We have no history of outbreaks such as parvo, etc. However, we want to make sure that we are prepared with proper cleaning supplies should such an outbreak occur. We currently clean with Altima 128, a quaternary ammonium product. We have been hearing a lot about Trifectant, as well as degreasers. We have also been told that we should change cleaners from time to time.
Do you feel that monthly alternating of Trifectant and Altima 128, combined with weekly use of a degreaser, would be an adequate cleaning protocol both as far as day-to-day cleaning and disease prevention? Also, I cannot find any information about specific degreasers that would be appropriate. I read about the Animal Health Technology degreaser elsewhere on your site, but I cannot find information on where to purchase it. Do you have any suggestions?
Thank you. |
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Date question was answered: |
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Answer |
Kudos to you for wanting to be prepared for the worst.
Effective sanitation requires applying a germicidal agent to a basically clean surface. This requires use of both detergent and disinfectant products. Detergents in themselves do nothing to kill germs. Although some disinfectants can also act as detergents, many (such as bleach) do not. Virtually all disinfectants used in shelters are inactivated by organic material (such as feces, kitty litter, saliva, sneeze marks and plain old dirt) to some extent, so if they are not applied to a clean surface, they simply will not work.
Periodically, a stronger degreaser should be used to deal with body oils and other grunge that builds up in kennels over time and can render disinfectants ineffective. We generally recommend using a degreaser weekly or every two weeks.
The product you are currently using (Altima 128) is a Quaternary ammonium compound, similar to Roccal, Parvo-sol, Triple-two, Kennel-sol. These cleaners are:
• Effective against most bacteria and some viruses.
• Not reliably effective against parvo, panleukopenia or ringworm. Ineffective to only partially effective against feline calicivirus (common cause of feline URI).
• 1980, 1995, and 2002 studies tested quaternary ammonium compounds labeled for use against unenveloped viruses such as parvo and found them less effective than the label claimed.
• Moderately inactivated by organic debris (but less so than bleach).
• Hard water reduces effectiveness.
Some quaternary ammonium compounds have detergent/cleaning action as well as acting as disinfectants, and are suitable as a good general purpose product for both cleaning and disinfection, but in case of suspected parvovirus contamination the addition of other parvocidal products is necessary.
A reasonable choice would be to use a quaternary ammonium compound with detergent characteristics for general cleaning of all areas, followed by an application of bleach disinfection whenever un-enveloped viruses are a concern.
Bleach (Sodium hypochlorite) is a great disinfectant, but not a detergent. If you want to continue using your current cleaning agent you could add bleach as a disinfecting step following cleaning with the Altima 128.
• 5% solution diluted at 1:32 (1/2 cup per gallon) completely inactivates parvo, panleukopenia and calicivirus when used correctly. Most household bleach is 5%. "Ultrableach" contains a slightly higher percentage of sodium hypochlorite, but may be safely used at the same dilution as 5% household bleach.
• Inactivates ringworm at higher concentrations (1:10 dilution, or 1½ cup per gallon of water) and with repeated application.
• Significantly inactivated by organic matter, light and extended storage: should be stored for limited time in light-proof containers.
• Low tissue toxicity, but fumes can be irritating at high concentration and bleach is corrosive to metal.
• Hard water reduces effectiveness
Trifectant (Potassium peroxymonosulfate):
• Effective against panleukopenia and feline calicivirus. Studies also support efficacy against other un-enveloped viral agents, including parvo.
• Reportedly less corrosive to metal than bleach, moderate activity in the presence of organic matter.
• Comes in powdered form, mixed solution stable up to 7 days.
Like quaternary ammonium compounds, potassium peroxymonosulfate reportedly has some detergent effect and can be used as a sole cleaning/disinfection agent for lightly soiled surfaces.
There is no information available to suggest that it is necessary to change cleaning products from time to time. The important thing is to use a parvocidal disinfectant correctly, including allowing it adequate contact time (10 minutes). Adding bleach to you current protocol would be a reasonable option.
We don’t recommend any particular degreaser, as there are many available (just “google” degreaser). Since detergents are not disinfectants (they do not have anti-microbial activity), it is not necessary to consider which pathogens a certain degreaser is effective against. I would check with your current suppliers if they have any degreasing products available.
I hope this information is useful. |
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Question
# 1519 |
Like every other animal control shelter, we face the daily challenges of disease spread. We have been using Trifectant as a routine cleaner after the cages are cleaned with a degreaser. It is very effective, but hard to apply which becomes time consuming. We recently started using a chemical called Kennel Kare disinfectant/cleaner/deodorizer made by Health Technology to wash our vehicle cages and we can apply it using a pressure washer. We also purchased some foamers for use in the kennels. The trifectant has to be applied with a mop and bucket or a backpack sprayer, but over time breaks down the seals of the sprayer as it is somewhat corrosive. How effective do you think the kennel Kare solution is, and do you maybe have another method of applying trifectant to dog kennels.
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Date question was answered: |
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Answer |
In general we recommend degreasing the cages / runs once a week or every two weeks, depending on your shelter’s needs, for every day use it is OK to use Trifectant on its own. I would recommend using Trifectant rather than Kennel Kare alone, at least in between animals. If the animals are staying in the same cage throughout their stay in the shelter you are fine to use the Kennel Kare for every day cleaning and using the Trifectant for disinfection whenever an animal leaves, before a new resident animal is introduced to the cage.
Kennel Kare is a great detergent, but is not a reliable disinfectant as it does not kill un-enveloped germs such as parvo virus in dogs, or panleukopenia virus and calici virus in cats. Trifectant and Bleach are the only disinfectants to reliably kill these pathogens.
Trifectant should be used at 1% solution, bleach should be used a 1:32 dilution (1/2 cup of bleach per 1 gallon of water).
In regards to application of Trifectant: Most often we recommend using a hose-end sprayer, we recommend making the solution at ten times the recommended concentration (10% solution, or 10 scoops per gallon of water), and then running it through a hose-end sprayer that will dilute the concentrated solution at 1:10. I am not a big fan of using a mop as it has the potential to act as a fomite for disease transmission.
Alternatively you cold switch from Trifectant to using Kennel Kare as your detergent followed with bleach disinfection.
If you have cases of ringworm you have to use bleach at 1:10 dilution to disinfect the exposed areas.
I hope this information is helpful. |
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Question
# 1500 |
As is common in most southern states with the high amounts of humidity, disease control has become a major issue, especially parvo. We've discussed, in an attempt to limit exposure between our adoptable dogs, that we should only do a complete cleaning and disinfecting of their holding kennels once a week and the remainder of the week do a thorough spot cleaning. Is this a good idea or do you recommend another alternative? As always, any help you can provide is greatly respected and appreciated. Thanks. |
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-08 |
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Answer |
Hello,
Thank you for sending your question to Dr. Hurley and the Shelter Medicine Prorgram.
While attempting to do a spot cleaning on dogs may seem like a good idea, in your situation, it would be best to do a thorough cleaning with an appropriate disinfectant daily for a few reasons.
First, dogs tend to be messy. There is often quite a lot of urine and feces in each run. Dogs are usually quite careless of where they urinate and defecate in their runs and therefore it is necessary to clean the entire run daily, for the comfort and welfare of the dogs, to limit odors in the shelter and to maintain good hygiene.
If you have a population of house-trained dogs that are walked at least twice daily and thus do not urinate and defecate much in their runs this method could work for your shelter, but for most shelters this is not the case.
You can do a “partial spot-cleaning” by letting the dishes and bedding stay with the dog for its entire stay, unless soiled, but I would recommend cleaning and disinfecting floors and walls in dog runs at least once daily.
To properly disinfect these runs, you would need to make sure an appropriate detergent and disinfectant are used. Adequately removing all feces/urine from a dog run is often difficult in a spot cleaning situation, leading to spread of disease. At the same time, using water or an inadequate disinfectant to spray the run may, in fact, lead to more disease since particles will be spread more easily. For this reason, you will want to check to make sure you are using appropriate agents for those pathogens you want to target. If parvo is a problem at your shelter, you will want to first remove all solid debris, then clean with a detergent, and finally end with bleach. A sample protocol and detailed information can be found at the following site:
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_cleaning.shtml#sample |
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Question
# 1487 |
Is bleach effective against leptospirosis? |
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-03 |
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Answer |
Most journals and textbooks recommend cleaning first with a good detergent and then following with an iodophor disinfectant. Yet, somehow, I can't imagine pouring Betadine on a whole cage! There are many citations for the use and effectiveness of bleach. They state a 0.1% solution of commercial bleach, following cleaning. This is a 1:50 dilution. If the shelter is using a 1:32 dilution as a standard, with contact time, that should work. Here are 2 sites:
http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/leptospirosis.pdf
I have attached the document. On the first page:
Disinfection
Leptospira species can be inactivated by 1% sodium hypochlorite, 70% ethanol,
glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, detergents and acid. This organism is sensitive to moist
heat (121° C for a minimum of 15 min) and is also killed by pasteurization.
Also:
www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/miscdocs/docs-249/Manual/LeptospirosisManual.pdf
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Question
# 1484 |
We are having a severe parvo outbreak at our open intake municipal shelter. Currently we are vaccinating with Schering DAPPV and boostering puppies every 2 weeks. We are using BruClean for cleaning and bleaching any cage, run, or equipment that comes in contact with a parvo puppy. We euthanize the entire litter immediately when parvo is detected. We are noticing that the puppies are often getting sick a few days after their second vaccine. We are considering going back to Fort Dodge Durammune vaccine. Does anyone have any opinions on whether one vaccine is better than another or if we should be boostering less frequently?
Thank you. |
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-02 |
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Answer |
I know how heartbreaking and frustrating parvo can be, so I am hoping this have improved for you. It sounds like you are taking the appropriate measures to deal with the situation.
In general I don’t have any preference when it comes to vaccine manufacturers, the key is to use a modified live vaccine, ensure that ever dog and puppy over 4 weeks of age get vaccinated immediately on intake, and to revaccinate puppies every 2-4 weeks. As I am sure you know, vaccination usually prevents disease in adult dogs but is more complicated in puppies due to the possible presence of maternally derived antibodies. We generally recommend going with the low end of the age range and short end of the vaccination interval in shelters where parvo risk is high, so I do not think that you should increase the interval between your revaccinations for your puppies in this situation. Keep doing
what you’re doing.
Have you contacted the vaccine manufacturer regarding your findings?
Is it common for you to hold puppies for a longer period? I am asking since you say they tend to break after their second vaccine, which would mean that puppies stay for at least 2-3 weeks at the shelter. Is there any way you could shorten the period they stay with you? Do you have an intake quarantine or legal holding period that is interfering with your efforts to get them out as soon as possible? Are most of the puppies old enough to go up for adoption soon after admission, or would there be an opportunity to send some of them out to foster homes until they are old enough? Do you have the facility capacity to be able to segregate puppies from adults? There is a lot of useful information on our website, including our parvo information sheet.
Another great resource is the webinar Canine Parvo Virus: Target Prevention given by Dr. Newbury available atPetsmart Charities. Go to recorded session on the left margin, scroll down till you find the lecture of interest.
Tess |
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