The Experimental Medicine Unit of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (UME-FMT) is a service provider structure. It is a controlled environment where animals with defined biological characteristics are housed and handled, which we must keep constant in order to guarantee the quality and sustainability of the experiments. It is therefore essential, to avoid any contamination and stress liable to harm the well-being of animals and to distort the experimental results, that the rules set out in these internal regulations are scrupulously observed.
These internal regulations specify the conditions of access for regular visitors (animal keepers), the conditions for access for occasional visitors (visiting visitors, delivery men, technicians responsible for maintenance) and the entry / exit conditions. experimental animals. In all cases, animals must have a health certificate and the health status of the unit must be maintained and certified according to standards established by the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Sciences Association (FELASA).
Smoking is strictly prohibited on the premises of the EUM-FMT.
Access conditions for visiting and permanent staff
Regular visitors to UME-FMT premises are teachers, members of FMT research teams (units and laboratories), or members of national and international cooperation with these teams, subject to obtaining an authorization from ‘access issued by the head of UME-FMT. This authorization is given to the applicant against a certificate certifying their knowledge of the internal regulations as well as the charter for the ethics of animal testing, and their commitment to comply with them (access form).- The possession of an access authorization gives the right to a badge and the authorization to hold a copy of the main access key (one key per unit, three per laboratory). The entry and exit times must be mentioned in a register with a summary of the activities undertaken.
- Regular visitors must be qualified or placed under the responsibility of a qualified person, identified by name in the access authorization form and who will vouch for their behavior on the premises of the unit.
- The UME-FMT is divided into three zones, management zone, experimentation zone, and delivery / maintenance zone. The access authorization issued to regular visitors only applies to the management and experimental areas
- Access to the delivery / maintenance area is strictly limited to permanent staff of the animal facility.
- Visitors have access through the main entrance. The visitor deposits his belongings in the cloakroom. He must wear a lab coat before entering the experimental area. He must also and imperatively wash his hands in the sinks made available to him and put on gloves. Miscellaneous personal effects can be vectors for microorganisms or even unwanted insects inside the unit.
- Knowing that Man is also an excellent vector of microorganisms in animal house, regular visitors must undertake on their honor not to access UME-FMT if they have visited another structure laboratory animal house within less than 72 hours. The health balance of the unit is at stake.
- For similar health reasons, anyone with an infectious health problem such as a cold with a strong runny nose, frequent coughing, boils, carbuncles or accidental sores must refrain from entering the premises of the animal house. If access is nonetheless essential, wearing a mask will be required in addition to the gown.
- It is strictly forbidden to introduce and handle transmissible pathogenic germs in the unit.
- On leaving, regular visitors take the main exit after removing the gloves and the blouse, washing their hands and collecting their personal things in the changing room.
- In the interests of economy, the visitor can identify his blouse, put it in the wardrobe and reuse it during his next visit. The blouses will be systematically washed once a fortnight.
- During their stay on the premises of the unit, visitors are not allowed to drink, eat and smoke. They should avoid being noisy and behave in a way that could stress animals. They must comply with the instructions that the permanent staff members can give them.
- Regular visitors must have read the safety instructions and evacuation plans which will be posted at strategic points in the premises. They should have identified the three exits from the unit and the position of the fire extinguishers.
Access conditions for occasional visitors
- Are considered as occasional visitors: the deliverers, the maintenance staff of the university building, the technicians of the after-sales service or maintenance of the materials, and any other visitor not holding animals.
- The general rules defined in chapter 1 « Access conditions for regular visitors » apply to occasional visitors.
- They must also be accompanied by the manager or a member of the permanent staff of the animal facility.
- Interventions on the building and general building equipment (technical ducts, electricity, plumbing, various machinery) can only be authorized by appointment. A delay is indeed essential so that permanent staff can modify the animals’ stabling plan in order to reduce their stress as much as possible. (2.4)
- Article 2-4 does not apply to interventions motivated by a case of extreme emergency such as fires, short-circuits, leaks or any other event compromising the safety of property and persons present in the building.
Animal access conditions
- All animal introductions are checked by the head of the EUM-FMT (or his representative) so as not to allow animals carrying pathogenic germs or of a health status not compatible with the status of the unit to access.
- It is strictly forbidden to introduce animals without authorization. All orders for animals must be approved by the head of the UME-FMT.
- Orders will only be accepted after validation of a research protocol duly filed with the head of the UME-FMT having received the approval of the ethics committee and the Dean of the FMT.
- Any particular problem with the experimental protocol must first be submitted to the head of the unit, in order to agree with him on the rules of hygiene, risk control, special care for animals and their accommodation.
- Purchase orders will be validated and sent to suppliers by the head of the unit, after consulting the quarantine schedule.
- Conventional animals coming from referenced suppliers (Siphat, Institut Pasteur), are regularly authorized to access the animal facility on the condition that a satisfactory sanitary certificate from farms is periodically provided to the head of the unit. However, these animals must undergo acclimatization and observation time in the quarantine room. The minimum time observed will be two days for mice and rats. It is therefore necessary to provide for this delay in the experimental schedules and to order accordingly.
- Are considered as coming from the outside all conventional animals not leaving the laboratories or suppliers referenced. Given the health risks involved, animals that have not received a housing permit will not be accepted in the unit. For animals coming from outside, a case-by-case study will be carried out. The provision of a medical condition dating back less than two weeks is mandatory. Animals falling under these conditions will be kept in the quarantine zone for at least 15 days depending on the space available for this type of accommodation.
- The entry of conventional animals is necessarily carried out by the « animals » airlock on the laundry site / store side. The transfer cage remains outside the unit’s testing area.
- Animals are transported to internal or external experimental sites by placing the cage and its accessories in a container on wheels. The return is by the same means of transport.
- If the place of testing is external, the animals enter the testing area by the animal airlock. The transport cage and its accessories remain outside.
- External experimental sites must be equipped with an animal isolation cabinet in which the transfer cages will be placed, to avoid any contact of animals with wild animals.
- The internal and external places of experimentation must be sanitized before the animals arrive and after their departure.
- Experimental animals, whatever they may be, must have returned to their stall area for the night if the place of experimentation is internal, quarantine zone if this place is external.
- The places of experimentation must be approved by the management committee. Unannounced visits will be made to verify compliance with the above rules.
Animal handling
- Clean and disinfect imperatively before and after each manipulation the worktops, anesthesia machines, restraint boxes and all other equipment used, even apparently clean.
- Plan all your equipment before coming to undertake your handling, so that nothing is missing on site during the experiment. All equipment must be properly disinfected.
- Do not use the same material from one unit to another.
- The materials, utensils and products shared on the premises of the unit must remain available to all, left in good condition and in the place desired by the person in charge and his collaborators. Any change or transfer from one room to another must be done with their agreement.
- It is strictly forbidden to bring materials and its products outside.
- Use clean and sterile equipment for handling (injection, sampling, surgery), giving preference to single-use equipment.
- Always make sure to inject animals only with sterile solutions or suspensions or at least devoid of any latent infectious germ, using a possible means of treatment: filtration, irradiation, dosage of antiseptic, antibiotic.
- Apart from circumstantial disinfection procedures for the premises, the handling rooms, as well as the changing rooms and the access airlock, will be disinfected regularly every weekend, Saturday morning. Manipulators should not interfere with this procedure.
- It is strictly forbidden to leave (or block) the doors in the open position to respect the sanitary protection of the premises and the regulation of air pressures.
- Experimental injections presenting a risk to humans, the environment or other animals housed or to the quality or even the success of other experiments are prohibited in the unit.
- The same is true for the experimental use of radioactive elements which is regulated.
- Avoid the waiting and the accumulation of animals in the handling rooms, and especially not in the corridors.
- Plan your animal orders to avoid a long period of unnecessary maintenance.
- Once the experiment is over, it is in your interest to sacrifice the animals as quickly as possible.
- As soon as an experiment is over and the animals are dead or have left the establishment, the cage labels must be returned with a clear indication of the date, the cause of death or the destination in the event of exit. complete the animal register.
- Promptly report to unit staff any anomalies, both technical and animal health.
- The staff of the unit is at your disposal as technical support, trainer, to advise you and possibly help you when its requirements allow it, to provide you with certain necessary materials and products.
Warehouse and disposal of corpses and waste
- All corpses and animal waste must be sealed in plastic bags, carefully knotted, welded or closed with a tie or a grommet wire and stored according to the following procedures
- Carcasses of animals (except radioactive corpses which are subject to special treatment) must be stored in the common freezer located in the operating room hall.
- They will then be removed once a week by the animal keepers to be cremated.
- Trash waste from handling rooms must be incinerated: for this, carefully closed plastic bags must be placed in the back hall on the laundromat / store side.
- It is strictly forbidden to throw in waste bags (or corpses), needles, syringes, broken pipettes or glassware, scalpels or other objects that could injure service personnel.
- These objects must be thrown in the special jars made available to you in the handling rooms and in the operating room.
- Litter presenting a biological risk, must remain in the cages.
- These cages will be wrapped in a large brown paper bag for autoclaving.
- These litters will then be treated as those presenting no risk.
- All other litter boxes, which do not present a risk, must be emptied in large plastic bags in the laundromat / store.
- Close the bags carefully with a grommet wire, and store them in the back hall. Do not forget to put a bag on the support.
- 12 do not overload the bags, to facilitate handling and not make them too fragile, do not exceed 3/4 of the bag.
- Dirty equipment (bottle, cage, lid, separator, label holder) must be stored in the store laundry room.
