Office of the Attending Veterinarian 

With the passing of the 21st Century Cures Act, the USDA no longer requires Annual Review of IACUC protocols, aligning with NIH/PHS Policy. The University of Kentucky IACUC is pleased to announce that Annual Protocol Reviews are no longer required. PIs will no longer submit information for annual review and approval in the Cayuse system. The OAV-IACUC office will continue to check training and UHS clearance on a yearly basis and reach out to individuals who need to complete/renew these items. PIs who previously reported animal numbers via the progress report will also be contacted to collect this information (e.g. Agriculture, Biology, Wildlife, Core protocols). As a final note, please report any unanticipated adverse events and noncompliances directly to your clinical veterinarian (DLAR) or the Attending Veterinarian. This update does not affect three-year de novo reviews. IACUCs are still required to conduct a complete review of animal activities every 3 years. Any changes to approved protocol activities must be submitted as an amendment.

In preparation for disruptions that might arise from COVID-19, the IACUC has developed contingency plans for business continuity. IACUC protocols and amendments should continue to be submitted via Cayuse AO. Other IACUC activities will proceed commensurate with availability of staff.  It is our hope to have minimal disruptions to normal workflow.

Questions can be directed to the Office of the Attending Veterinarian (oav@uky.edu) or to Dr. Mark Suckow, Attending Veterinarian (msuckow@uky.edu).

Specifically, we encourage you to consider the following in your preparations:

1. Review with your colleagues and personnel your unit emergency response plan.
2. Consider designating “essential personnel” to care for the daily husbandry needs of your animals. Be prepared for core facilities and other fee-for-service resources to become unavailable.
3. Since orders of critical supplies could be delayed, consider alternative sources.
4. Although evidence shows the virus originated from an unknown animal source, the CDC states that, “At this time, there is no evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread COVID-19.” However, until additional information comes to light, we should be cautious and assume the possibility of both zoonotic (animal to human) and anthropozoonotic (human to animal) transmission is possible. For this reason, anyone showing clinical symptoms of respiratory disease should not enter animal quarters. Stay home if you are sick.
5. As always, be sure to wash your hands with soap and water frequently and avoid touching your nose, mouth and eyes.   

Updates to this information will be posted at: https://www.research.uky.edu/office-attending-veterinarian

For those who use DLAR services for animal care and use:

DLAR Staff are considered “Designated Employees” and as such will be on campus even during site closures, to provide routine husbandry and veterinary care to DLAR maintained animals. 

Please note that unless DLAR is already providing support to your research program we do not have additional staff to take on this role.  Research activities remain your responsibility.

While there is NO need to euthanize animals at this time you may want to scale back on breeding colony production.  We do not want litters of animals being produced if you are delaying studies.

We routinely have feed and supplies that would allow us to operate in an emergency for at least one month.  We received a feed shipment today (3-18-2020)

Finally, IDEXX, a leading Veterinary Diagnostic Company has reported that having tested thousands of canine and feline specimens they have had no positive results to date. https://www.idexx.com/en/about-idexx/news/newsroom-archive/no-covid-19-cases-pets/. These new test results align with the current expert understanding that COVID-19 is primarily transmitted person-to-person and supports the recommendation against testing pets for the COVID-19 virus. For dogs or cats presenting with respiratory signs, the recommendation is to contact a veterinarian to test for more common respiratory pathogens.

Inquiries regarding DLAR may be directed to Dr. Bernie Doerning, DLAR Director (bernard.doerning@uky.edu) or Toma Matott, Facility Operations Manager (toma.mattot@uky.edu)