Agenda - 10-01-2002-10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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September 23,2002 Dr.Summers Page 1 September 23,2002 Rosemary L. Summers,MPH,DrPH ; Health Director Orange County Health Department P.O.Box 8181,300 W.Tryon St. Hillsborough,NC 27278 Dear Dr. Summers, i We are providing comments as requested on infectious disease control at the Orange County Shelter,based on a visit to the facilities and discussion with you and key shelter staff on September 17,2002.There are at least two caveats to the comments that follow.First,although biosecurity issues are an important part of our jobs,each of us has limited experience with shelter practice. Second,these comments are based on our impressions of the facility,combined with information provided by the staff.We did not see or review written standard operating procedures,or any reports or records from previous disease outbreaks.For both reasons,our comments should be taken as neither a criticism nor endorsement of previous practices. The facility was uniformly clean and tidy,and animals appeared to be well cared for.It was apparent that shelter staff invest a great deal of effort in sanitation.This level,of commitment can make up for many physical plant deficiencies,but limitations in the physical plant can compromise the ability to control spread of infectious disease. • Limitations in overall size of the facility can compromise objectives of the shelter in general,but inevitable pressures for animal housing space can make infectious disease control difficult. The ideal would be to have adequate quarantine space for all incoming animals,preferably multiple rooms that would avoid introducing new arrivals to rooms with other animals.A related logistic issue of course is how long any given animal can be held before being offered for adoption.Here again,the ideal,from an infectious diseases standpoint,might be to hold a quarantine room for a week+before any public contact. • Lay-out/traffic patterns—Ideally,the path for an incoming animal would not cross with routine traffic patterns,and required personnel traffic,staff or public,would not cross between quarantine or isolation spaces and other rooms.One particular concern at the Shelter was that drop-off animals were in a room with queens/litters.This exposes the potentially most vulnerable animals to new arrivals of unknown health status. • Surface finishes—We observed several situations where existing surface finishes would be judged at least difficult to effectively sanitize.These include several areas where paint was