Quarantine facilities and operations

This chapter focuses on quarantine requirements at animal facilities. The well-established quarantine measures for nonhuman primates and those that have re-emerged for rodents are very important. The increased use and exchange of genetically engineered mutant mice especially demands rodent quarantine capabilities for the majority of research institutions. Apart from species-specific housing requirements, it is important to consider pathogens to be contained in terms of the route of transmission, and degree of hazard to human and animal health. Animals obtained from commercial vendors, as opposed to other research institutions, may be less likely to harbor undesirable microorganisms, often allowing them to be exempt from a quarantine program. The ideal quarantine facility should be flexible enough to allow the use of multiple species, and take into account the number and frequency of shipments expected. The more shipments and different species involved, the more subdivided the facility should be, through the use of multiple rooms, cubicles, isolators, etc. At a minimum, ABSL2 design criteria should be used to enable the containment of pathogens at the room or cage level, while also preventing agent transmission via contaminated animal waste, fomites, and personnel.