Appendix B
Glossary of Terms
Animal biosafety level 3 (ABSL-3) facilities:
Involves practices suitable for work with animals infected with indigenous or exotic agents that present the potential of aerosol transmission and of causing serious or potentially lethal disease. ABSL-3 builds upon the standard practices, procedures, containment equipment, and facility requirements of ABSL-2.
Animal health framework:
The collection of organizations and participants in the public and private sectors who are directly responsible for maintaining the health of all animals who are impacted by animal disease or influence its determinants.
Antiviral:
Destroying or inhibiting the growth and reproduction of viruses.
Assay:
Qualitative or quantitative analysis of a substance. In the context here, assay refers to determining presence of a toxin, chemical, infectious agent, or antibodies to an agent.
Avian influenza (AI):
A disease of viral etiology that ranges from a mild or even asymptomatic infection to an acute, fatal disease of chickens, turkeys, guinea fowls, and other avian species, especially migratory waterfowl (1,2,3,4,8,9,10,11).
Biosafety level:
Laboratories are assigned a classification (levels 1 to 4) based on the risk to human health of handling certain types of organisms.
Level 1 laboratories are designed for low-risk work; level 4 laboratories can handle organisms that pose the most serious risks. Laboratories at each classification level must meet different design criteria and conform to different operating procedures. The University of Georgia AHRC building will house level 2 and 3 laboratories.
Biosafety level 1 (BSL-1)
is used for working with agents having no known or minimal hazard to laboratory personnel and the environment; the organisms are unlikely to cause illness in people or animals.
• Work is generally conducted on open bench tops with standard microbiological practices.
• Examples: Bacillus subtilis, nonpathogenic E. coli
Biosafety level 2 (BSL-2)
is suitable for work involving agents of moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment. Should a person become infected, treatment is available, and the risk of spreading the infection to others is low.
• Any laboratory procedure with these agents that may create an aerosol must be done within a biological safety cabinet.
• Examples: Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., most animal viruses
Biosafety level 3 (BSL-3)
is applicable to work done with agents that may cause serious illness to people or animals but cannot spread easily to others; treatment is available.
• All procedures involving the manipulation of infectious materials must be done within biological safety cabinets or other appropriate containment devices. The laboratory has special engineering and design features including separation from traffic flow, water-resistant surfaces for cleaning, sealed windows, and ducted exhaust air ventilation.
• Examples: virulent Newcastle disease virus, HIV research level, Coxiella burnettii (Q fever), E. coli 0157:H7
Bioterror:
A form of terrorism that employs the use of biological and chemical weapons.
Bovine tuberculosis:
Tuberculosis in cattle caused by infection with the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis, which can be transmitted to other animals and to humans.
Brucellosis:
A disease of domestic animals, such as cattle, sheep, goats, and dogs, that is caused by brucellae and sometimes results in spontaneous abortions in newly infected animals. In humans it is caused by any of
several species of Brucella and marked by fever, sweating, weakness, and headache. It is transmitted to humans by direct contact with diseased animals or through ingestion of infested meat, milk, or cheese.
Cervid:
Any of various hoofed ruminant mammals of the family Cervidae, characteristically having deciduous antlers borne chiefly by the males. The deer family also includes the elk, moose, caribou, and reindeer.
Classical swine fever (CSF):
A highly contagious, deadly disease of swine, also known as hog cholera.
Coronavirus:
Any of various single-stranded, RNA-containing viruses that cause respiratory infection in humans and resemble a crown when viewed under an electron microscope because of their petal-shaped projections.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD):
A transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) affecting elk and deer (cervids) in North America.
Endemic:
The pattern of disease characterized by a sustained level of disease over time.
Epidemic:
The pattern of disease characterized by an increase in frequency of disease above the expected for the population.
Exotic animal disease:
Diseases such as SARS and monkeypox that are new and/or emerging diseases, but which are not listed by OIE. In the report, the term refers to any animal disease caused by a disease agent that does not naturally occur in the United States.
Exotic Newcastle disease (END):
A contagious and fatal viral disease affecting all species of birds.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD):
A highly contagious viral infection primarily of cloven-hoofed domestic animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and water buffalo) and cloven-hoofed wild animals. The disease is characterized by fever and vesicles with subsequent erosions in the mouth, nares, muzzle, feet, or teats.
Foreign animal disease (FAD):
Long-standing diseases that have been kept out of the United States (e.g., FMD, CSF, BSE, rinderpest, etc.) and that are listed by OIE (list A and list B). In the report, the term refers to an exotic animal disease limited to agricultural animals.
Hog cholera:
A highly contagious viral disease of swine that occurs in an acute, subacute, chronic, or persistent form. In the acute form, the disease is characterized by high fever, severe depression, multiple superficial and internal hemorrhages, and high morbidity and mortality. In the chronic form, the signs of depression, anorexia, and fever are less severe than in the acute form, and recovery is occasionally seen in mature animals.
Infectious:
Capable of causing infection; communicable by invasion of the body of a susceptible organism.
Johne’s disease:
A chronic inflammatory bowel disease, primarily in cattle, caused by Mycobacterium paratuberculosis.
Monkeypox:
A rare viral disease that is found mostly in the rain forest countries of central and western Africa. The disease is called “monkeypox” because it was first discovered in laboratory monkeys in 1958.
Necropsy:
An examination and dissection of a dead body to determine cause of death or the changes produced by disease.
Pandemic:
An epidemic that occurs worldwide.
Pathogen:
Disease-producing organism.
Polymerase chain reaction:
A technique for amplifying DNA sequences in vitro by separating the DNA into two strands and incubating it with oligonucleotide primers and DNA polymerase. It can amplify a specific sequence of DNA by as many as one billion times and is important in biotechnology, forensics, medicine, and genetic research.
Prion:
A microscopic protein particle similar to a virus but lacking nucleic acid, thought to be the infectious agent responsible for scrapie and certain other degenerative diseases of the nervous system.
Protozoa:
Any of a large group of single-celled, usually microscopic, eukaryotic organisms, such as amoebas, ciliates, flagellates, and sporozoans.
Pseudorabies:
A highly contagious herpes virus infection of animals (especially pigs) that affects the central nervous system.
Q fever:
A disease that is characterized by high fever, chills, muscular pains, headache, and sometimes pneumonia, that is caused by a rickettsial bacterium of the genus Coxiella (C. burnetii) of which domestic animals serve as reservoirs, and that is transmitted to humans especially by inhalation of infective airborne bacteria (as in contaminated dust).
Rinderpest:
An acute, often fatal, contagious viral disease, chiefly of cattle, characterized by ulceration of the alimentary tract and resulting in diarrhea.
SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome):
A viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, called SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV).
Serology:
The science that deals with the properties and reactions of serums, especially blood serum, and typically relates to the testing of sera for antibodies against viruses or bacteria.
Surveillance:
An active, systematic, ongoing, and formal process aimed at early detection of a disease, an agent, or elevated risk of disease in a population.
Toxin:
A poisonous substance produced during the metabolism and growth of certain microorganisms and some higher plant and animal species.
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE):
Examples include, but are not limited to, the following diseases: feline spongiform encephalopathy, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, chronic wasting disease, and scrapie. See individual species.
Vaccine:
Substance administered to animal to stimulate its defense mechanism.
West Nile virus (WNV):
The mosquito-borne virus that causes West Nile fever, one of the flaviviruses, a family of viruses also responsible for dengue, yellow fever, and tick-borne encephalitis virus; like the other flaviviruses, WNV is a positive-strand RNA virus containing three structural proteins and a host-derived lipid bilayer.
Zoonoses:
Diseases caused by infectious agents that can be transmitted between (or are shared by) animals and humans.