In this insightful roundtable discussion with Infection Control Today (ICT), veterinary infection preventionists (IPs), Leslie Kollmann, BS, AAS, CVT, CIC; Denise Waiting, LVT; and Leslie Landis, BS, LVT, explored the complex challenges of environmental services, infection prevention, and biosecurity in animal health care settings. Unlike human hospitals, veterinary practices often lack dedicated environmental services (EVS) departments.
"The terminology for the veterinary side of things is somewhat unheard of because we don't necessarily have a specific department just coming in and cleaning up, like in human health care, where they serve environmental health services,” Kollmann said. She is in veterinary infection prevention at the Minnesota Department of Health and has 20 years of experience as a vet tech and 15 years in infection prevention. She is also a member of the ICT Editorial Advisory Board.
Cleaning and disinfection responsibilities typically fall on veterinary technicians, nurses, assistants, or caretakers, who are already burdened with clinical duties. Larger institutions may employ custodial staff, but their cleaning products and protocols may not align with the specific pathogen risks in veterinary medicine.
Participants agreed that this model poses both logistical and infection control issues. Animal areas, such as treatment rooms, isolation units, and waiting areas, require specialized cleaning approaches that general custodial teams may not be trained to perform.
“Any animal area, such as an animal ward or treatment area, is cleaned by nurses, assistants, caretakers, and others who focus a lot of their attention on different responsibilities," Landis said. "Therefore, cleanliness may not always be their top priority. They concentrate on the actual medicine, and we have almost to remind them that maintaining cleanliness and disinfection is just as important as the medical care provided.
"We do have a caretaker staff, and while they do a great job, they do not clean the animal treatment areas; instead, they focus on the main hallways and lobbies," Landis said. "The situation here is that we do not have much control over them, as they are part of the university and not employees of our hospital, meaning they do not use the same disinfectants that we know are proven against our diseases.”
ICT Speaks With Veterinary Infection Preventionists
·Leslie Kollmann, BS, AAS, CVT, CIC, is a certified veterinary technician and board-certified in infection prevention and control. She works in Veterinary Infection Prevention at the Minnesota Department of Health and has 20 years of experience as a vet tech and 15 years in infection prevention. She is also a member of the ICT Editorial Advisory Board.
·Denise Waiting, LVT, is a licensed veterinary technician at Washington State Veterinary Teaching Hospital, with 30 years in the field and 4 years in infection control and biosecurity.
·Leslie Landis, LVT, BS, is a licensed veterinary technician at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, supervising small animal surgery and central sterilization for 25 years and serving as the infection control nurse since 2008.
In smaller practices, cleaning is often inconsistent due to limited staffing and lack of formalized procedures. While some hospitals perform monthly environmental cultures to monitor contamination, smaller clinics lack the resources for such surveillance.
“We are similar, except we have a dedicated room for an infectious disease; our nursing staff or students perform the first cleaning, removing everything or cleaning everything inside the room," Waiting said. “Then, our small animal care team comes in to clean again. This applies to the animal areas, as well as the human areas like lobbies and hallways. They do the basics, right? They clean the bathrooms and the lobby. However, they lack specific training to manage any of the animal areas. While they do clean some of our exam rooms, it's just the floors. We strive to train our small animal staff, spending a bit of time educating them on the issues they should be aware of and treating it all with care.”
Education emerged as a key theme. With limited staffing resources, the group emphasized the need for scalable, veterinary-specific training tools. Generic infection control materials from human medicine often lack relevance for animal care professionals, underscoring the need for accessible, engaging education tailored to various roles—from front desk staff to technicians and caretakers.
The conversation highlighted the importance of distinguishing between biosecurity and infection prevention. Biosecurity focuses on preventing pathogens from entering the facility, which is especially critical in farm and wildlife settings. Infection prevention, on the other hand, involves containing and managing pathogens once inside. Essential strategies include strict isolation protocols, targeted disinfection, clear PPE guidelines, patient labeling, proper transport of infectious animals, and enhanced awareness of floor contamination risks.
The roundtable members agree that the veterinary field must continue to prioritize standardized education, resource development, and advocacy to improve infection control infrastructure across animal care environments—from small clinics to large teaching hospitals and agricultural operations.
