Glossary of Relevant Terms
A&S | Animal Care Staff | AUHSP | AUHSP Booklet Biohazards | CALS | CARE | Direct Contact with Animals | Indirect Contact with Animals | CVM | DNS/CHE | EH&S | Gannett | Hazard | IACUC | LAS | PPE | Protocol | Zoonotic Agents
A&S is the College of Arts and Sciences
Animal Care Staff are all Cornell University employees that are employed (full-time, part-time, or temporary) to provide animal husbandry or animal care. Includes animal facility managers and animal caretakers (LAS, CVM, CALS, DNS/CHE, A&S), CARE veterinarians, and CARE veterinary technicians.
AUHSP is the Animal Users Health and Safety Program
AUHSP Booklet is the booklet describing the AUHSP program
Biohazards are infectious agents that are transmissible to humans and capable of inducing disease in humans. On occasion these biohazardous agents are used in animals as part of an experimental project, and in this manner they may pose an additional risk to personnel working in those projects. Examples of some of these agents in use at Cornell University include Borrelia burgdorferi, Schistosoma mansoni, or Trypanosoma cruzi. Projects using these pathogens undergo a review by the Biohazards Review Committee of the particularities of the study and the precautions taken by the Principal Investigators to minimize the risk for themselves and their collaborators.
CALS is the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
CARE is the Cornell Center for Animal Resources and Education
Contact with animals (Direct) is considered to be working with vertebrate animals or their tissues, as part of research or teaching. Examples include animal research and animal husbandry.
Contact with animals (Indirect) is considered to be indirect contact with animals or animal tissues. Examples include working in a laboratory where someone else uses animals, or working in close proximity to an animal holding facility.
CVM is the College of Veterinary Medicine
DNS/CHE is the Department of Nutritional Sciences/College of Human Ecology
EH&S is the Department of Environmental Health and Safety
Gannett is Gannett: Cornell University Health Services, Occupational Medicine component
Hazard is anything that has been scientifically proven to have an adverse health effect in a person. Hazards can be of chemical (e.g. disinfectants, clorox, formalin), physical (e.g. bites, kicks and scratches, needle sticks, dust, noise, heavy lifting), or biological (zoonotic agents, such as those that cause rabies, ringworm or tuberculosis) origin. Hazards are identified by the nature of the protocol, the species of animal, the origin or source of the animal, the location where the animal is housed or used, the existence of known zoonotic diseases or the nature of the person’s job responsibilities. Hazards are identified at the time of the review of the IACUC protocol, during facility walk-throughs, by animal disease and surveillance, at the review of annual personnel medical histories, and during physical examinations or the evaluation of accident reports.
IACUC is Cornell University’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
LAS is the department of Laboratory Animal Services
PPE is personal protective equipment
Protocol means Protocol Form for the Use of Live Vertebrate Animals
Zoonotic agents are hazards of biological origin. Zoonoses are diseases in which the causative agents can be transmitted between animals and humans. Most animals used in research projects and their products are free from disease or are not shedding harmful pathogens, and humans are not generally susceptible to animal diseases. However, there are exceptions in which infectious agents present in animals may sometimes produce disease in humans. This could occur even in cases when the animals may show no signs of illness. An adverse health effect as a result of animal contact is uncommon, but the potential risk of infection remains and must be recognized in order to be reduced or avoided.