Preventing Asthma in Animal Handlers

Animal handlers should take steps to protect themselves from exposure to animals and animal products:

• Perform animal manipulations within ventilated hoods or safety cabinets when possible.
• Avoid wearing street clothes while working with animals.
• Leave work clothes at the workplace to avoid potential exposure problems for family members.
• Keep cages and animal areas clean.
• Reduce skin contact with animal products such as dander, serum, and urine by using gloves, lab coats, and approved particulate respirators with faceshields.

Employers of animal handlers should take steps to protect workers from exposure to animals and animal products:

• Modify ventilation and filtration systems:
  • Increase the ventilation rate and humidity in the animal-housing areas.
  • Ventilate animal-housing and -handling areas separately from the rest of the facility.
  • Direct airflow away from workers and toward the backs of the animal cages.
  • Install ventilated animal cage racks or filter-top animal cages.

• Decrease animal density (number of animals per cubic meter of room volume).
• Keep cages and animal areas clean.
• Use absorbent pads for bedding. If these are not available, use corncob bedding instead of sawdust bedding.
• Use an animal species or sex that is known to be less allergenic than others.
• Provide protective equipment for animal handlers: gloves, lab coats, and approved particulate respirators with face-shields.
• Provide training to educate workers about animal allergies and steps for risk reduction.
• Provide health monitoring and appropriate counseling and medical follow-up for workers who have become sensitized or have developed allergy symptoms.