- Email: [email protected]
Disinfection: Actions and applications, two volumes
138
Book reuiew
A final word. As with any proceedings of an annual meeting, the scientific quality of the contributions differ significantly. Some contributions show preliminary results while others are fully worked out papers that will soon be submitted to scientific journals. This review is to give the reader an impression of the Dutch Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics in general and the topics of the 1995 meeting in particular. Comparing this meeting with those of other western European sister-societies (e.g. Germany and UK), the biggest differences are that it is a one-day meeting and thus it excludes a good talk at the bar during evening hours. IUAAS FRANKENA Department of Animal Husbandry Wageningen Institute of Animal Science P.O. Box 388,670O AH Wageningen Netherlands
Editorial Note: The VEEC was founded in 1987 by Prof. Jos Noordhuizen of Wageningen Agricultural University and Dr. Ynte Schukken of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht. After 2 years the society reached the current level of 190 members. Members are from several disciplines - universities, research institutes, animal health services, pharmaceutical industries, practitioners, and students. The annual subscription fee is US$20.00, including a copy of the Proceedings. The society has its annual meeting on thesecond Wednesday of December and is attended by 60 to 90 people. In order to satisfy the pluriform audience, the papers presented should, in general, be not too theoretical and links to practice should be clear. The language of the presentations is either Dutch or English. The Proceedings papers are in English, with summaries in English and Dutch. The 1996 meeting is at Wageningen on 1lth December and the 1996 organiser is Prof. Jos Nordhuizen [email: [email protected]].
Disinfection procedures Editorial comment - as we have had mixed reviews on recent OIE publications, I asked two separate reviewers to report on the following OIE text. As their views are divergent, they were not asked to submit a merged, single report. Actions and applications, two volumes, ed H.A. McDaniel, 1995, Office International des Epizooties, Scientific & Technical Review 14( 1):9-224 & (2):257-477, ISBN 92-9044-367-7 [248pp] & ISBN 92-9044-368-5 [248pp], FrF 265 ($50.00) Disinfection:
The content of the two volumes of this publication is mainly divided thematically into the contributions giving more general overview in this first part, and in the second part
Book review
139
articles describing disinfection procedures in several different applications. The contributions lislted in the general contents pages promise an interesting review of the complete field of disinfection from an historical reminiscence to future perspectives, via a scientific account of the actions of the various chemicals, disinfectant testing, and environrnental effects of disinfection, to descriptions of procedures and techniques for disinfection under practical conditions. Even extreme scenarios are described, such as aircraft disinfection, aquaculture, as well as in wildlife and game parks. This publication shares the destiny of most reviews composed of a large number of articles by different authors. It cannot assure the same quality level for all contributions. Several articles do not fulfill the promise of their titles. Especially egregious were some contribul.ions dealing with the application of disinfection procedures under field conditions that were diffuse and superficial; others presented the state of global knowledge of ten or rn#Dreyears ago, not today. Many recommendations had largely legal sources and are not supported by scientific investigations using modem microbiological techniques. In nearly all the contributions the now available experiences gained in the large animal-production units of the East European countries are missing because, in general, only the English language literature is cited. The reader who really looks for practical advice for a given situation will get it from only a limited number of chapters. Thus, it must be questioned whether this would justify purchasing these two volumes. On the other hand, this publication might be valuable for scientific libraries and institutes doing research in these or related fields. REINHARD BijHM, Universitiit Hohnenheim, InstitutJiir Umwelt-Und Tierhygiene Sowie Tiermedizin mit Tierklinik, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany
The objectives of this two-part book are to provide state-of-the-art information on the use of disinfectants to maintain animal health and to prevent zoonotic diseases. It takes the form of a small number of general reviews of the history and science of disinfectants, their action, and how to test for efficiency, supplemented by a series of chapters covering specific industry sectors. Although a book reviewer ideally should avoid resorting to listing out the chapter headings, it perhaps best illustrates the content and range of the book for me to commit that sin. Eiriefly, the chapters cover disinfection issues and give guidelines for disinfection for vehicles (trucks, aircraft, and ships), for livestock premises (including for dairying, poultry production, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and cattle), for food processing (abattoirs, meat, and general food handling) and for aquaculture, zoos and game parks, as well as dealing with issues involving wildlife. The au’thorship is international, with contributions from USA, Mexico and Canada, UK and mainland Europe, Israel, and New Zealand. Although mostly from the USA, they are by no means the lion’s share, so principles and practices worldwide are
140
Book review
represented. All chapters are in English with some repeated or having summaries in French and Spanish. The target audience is animal health officials, perhaps also producers or processors. It may also be of value to veterinarian students, especially to answer those “compare and contrast the different requirements . . . ” type questions. By the nature of such a book there will be repetition. For each industry sector the underlying principles of disinfection requirements will be similar. However, to make it work as an easy to trace point of reference this repetition is entirely justifiable. This may limit the potential attraction of the book to livestock producers, who may be unwilling to buy books in which half the material could be irrelevant, but the relatively low cost must put the book within the budget of most who would be interested or who would benefit from the information conveyed. Most chapters are clearly written and supported by reasonably accessible tables, also in some cases by useful diagrams. They cover both general and in-depth concepts in an easily digestible form, whether as discussion of the issues involved or as sets of instructions where appropriate. As it is ans international authorship, where there is reference to legislation the reader must, of course, consider how that applies to their own country, but as much is based on practical requirements the translation of these details from one country to another will not be difficult. To illustrate the practical aspects of disinfection procedures for each sector, most give guidance both for routine circumstances and for clean-up following an outbreak of a notifiable disease. Important factors are hammered home throughout. The value of cleaning prior to application of disinfectant is emphasised - without doing so, much of the value of the treatment could be lost by inactivation through adsorption onto organic material (to a greater or lesser degree depending on the type of disinfectant). The different generic types of disinfectants are described - how they work and what might prevent them from doing so, e.g., incompatibility with the materials present or with the environmental conditions (such as temperature, water pH), or ineffectiveness against the micro-organisms likely to be present. The point is also made that the range of available disinfectants is limited and not likely to change, because of the cost of product development and licensing for a relatively low priced commodity. However, the book points out that, increasingly, combinations of the chemicals are being marketed, with additives such as wetting agents to enhance activity. So there is a need to know what they do, at what concentration, and to which microbe. This is important. Inappropriate or indiscriminate use of disinfectants can waste money, spread disease, lead to the development of resistant strains of pathogens, endanger the welfare of the animals and affect the health of exposed workers, leave unnecessary residues in foods of pollute the environment. Reading these books, or using them as a brief when advising others, should go long way toward reducing the likelihood of the above problems becoming out of control. This in itself should make the book a worthwhile investment. The first chapter in the first part is an entertaining start to the book, describing the history of disinfection from antiquity until this century. While some good principles of disinfection started to emerge through common sense and trial & error, others cried out for the understanding of microbiology that was to follow. The use of unicorns’ horns to
Book review
141
clean spoiled water obviously hastened the disappearance of the animal, while burning a mixture of gunpowder, salt, crushed juniper berries and laurel wood to fumigate against anthrax sounds like a risk almost on a par with the disease.
BRIAN COOK, Microbiology Section, Biomedical Sciences Group, Health & Safety Laboratory, Shefield S3 7HQ, England
Cattle lameness Illustrated Handbook on Cattle Lameness, by Paul R. Greenough, LaVeme M. Schugel
and A. Bruce Johnson, 1995, Zinpro Corporation, Eden Prarie, MN, 30 pp., US$S.OO
The material is a well illustrated handbook (four drawings; 83 colored pictures) describing normal hoof anatomy, evaluation methods, common bovine hoof disease conditions, hoof care procedures and management of stress, environment and nutrition as related to lameness. The handbook would be of value to veterinary students in clinical rotations, practicing veterinarians, veterinary educators and liverstock producers. The handbook: may also be useful to researchers as they attempt to standardize descriptions during data collection. Primarily, the handbook provides excellent color pictures of the various conditions to aid in diagnosis. As indicated by the authors, the handbook is not meant to be exhaustive. However, it does provide sufficient insight to guide the user towards solutions for cattle lamenesses. This guidance is given through descriptions of each problem followed by risk factors, treatments and control measures. The strength of the handbook is the excellent color photographs of the various conditions. Through these photographs, I think the authors have accomplished their goal of providing a basis for diagnostic standardization. Handbook users can quickly catergorize lamenesses into general classifications provided by the authors. Their general advice for prevention and control is sound. At this price (US$S.OO), it is a good buy.
JOHN H. KIRK Large Animal Surgery and Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849 USA
Book reuiew
A final word. As with any proceedings of an annual meeting, the scientific quality of the contributions differ significantly. Some contributions show preliminary results while others are fully worked out papers that will soon be submitted to scientific journals. This review is to give the reader an impression of the Dutch Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics in general and the topics of the 1995 meeting in particular. Comparing this meeting with those of other western European sister-societies (e.g. Germany and UK), the biggest differences are that it is a one-day meeting and thus it excludes a good talk at the bar during evening hours. IUAAS FRANKENA Department of Animal Husbandry Wageningen Institute of Animal Science P.O. Box 388,670O AH Wageningen Netherlands
Editorial Note: The VEEC was founded in 1987 by Prof. Jos Noordhuizen of Wageningen Agricultural University and Dr. Ynte Schukken of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht. After 2 years the society reached the current level of 190 members. Members are from several disciplines - universities, research institutes, animal health services, pharmaceutical industries, practitioners, and students. The annual subscription fee is US$20.00, including a copy of the Proceedings. The society has its annual meeting on thesecond Wednesday of December and is attended by 60 to 90 people. In order to satisfy the pluriform audience, the papers presented should, in general, be not too theoretical and links to practice should be clear. The language of the presentations is either Dutch or English. The Proceedings papers are in English, with summaries in English and Dutch. The 1996 meeting is at Wageningen on 1lth December and the 1996 organiser is Prof. Jos Nordhuizen [email: [email protected]].
Disinfection procedures Editorial comment - as we have had mixed reviews on recent OIE publications, I asked two separate reviewers to report on the following OIE text. As their views are divergent, they were not asked to submit a merged, single report. Actions and applications, two volumes, ed H.A. McDaniel, 1995, Office International des Epizooties, Scientific & Technical Review 14( 1):9-224 & (2):257-477, ISBN 92-9044-367-7 [248pp] & ISBN 92-9044-368-5 [248pp], FrF 265 ($50.00) Disinfection:
The content of the two volumes of this publication is mainly divided thematically into the contributions giving more general overview in this first part, and in the second part
Book review
139
articles describing disinfection procedures in several different applications. The contributions lislted in the general contents pages promise an interesting review of the complete field of disinfection from an historical reminiscence to future perspectives, via a scientific account of the actions of the various chemicals, disinfectant testing, and environrnental effects of disinfection, to descriptions of procedures and techniques for disinfection under practical conditions. Even extreme scenarios are described, such as aircraft disinfection, aquaculture, as well as in wildlife and game parks. This publication shares the destiny of most reviews composed of a large number of articles by different authors. It cannot assure the same quality level for all contributions. Several articles do not fulfill the promise of their titles. Especially egregious were some contribul.ions dealing with the application of disinfection procedures under field conditions that were diffuse and superficial; others presented the state of global knowledge of ten or rn#Dreyears ago, not today. Many recommendations had largely legal sources and are not supported by scientific investigations using modem microbiological techniques. In nearly all the contributions the now available experiences gained in the large animal-production units of the East European countries are missing because, in general, only the English language literature is cited. The reader who really looks for practical advice for a given situation will get it from only a limited number of chapters. Thus, it must be questioned whether this would justify purchasing these two volumes. On the other hand, this publication might be valuable for scientific libraries and institutes doing research in these or related fields. REINHARD BijHM, Universitiit Hohnenheim, InstitutJiir Umwelt-Und Tierhygiene Sowie Tiermedizin mit Tierklinik, D-70593 Stuttgart, Germany
The objectives of this two-part book are to provide state-of-the-art information on the use of disinfectants to maintain animal health and to prevent zoonotic diseases. It takes the form of a small number of general reviews of the history and science of disinfectants, their action, and how to test for efficiency, supplemented by a series of chapters covering specific industry sectors. Although a book reviewer ideally should avoid resorting to listing out the chapter headings, it perhaps best illustrates the content and range of the book for me to commit that sin. Eiriefly, the chapters cover disinfection issues and give guidelines for disinfection for vehicles (trucks, aircraft, and ships), for livestock premises (including for dairying, poultry production, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and cattle), for food processing (abattoirs, meat, and general food handling) and for aquaculture, zoos and game parks, as well as dealing with issues involving wildlife. The au’thorship is international, with contributions from USA, Mexico and Canada, UK and mainland Europe, Israel, and New Zealand. Although mostly from the USA, they are by no means the lion’s share, so principles and practices worldwide are
140
Book review
represented. All chapters are in English with some repeated or having summaries in French and Spanish. The target audience is animal health officials, perhaps also producers or processors. It may also be of value to veterinarian students, especially to answer those “compare and contrast the different requirements . . . ” type questions. By the nature of such a book there will be repetition. For each industry sector the underlying principles of disinfection requirements will be similar. However, to make it work as an easy to trace point of reference this repetition is entirely justifiable. This may limit the potential attraction of the book to livestock producers, who may be unwilling to buy books in which half the material could be irrelevant, but the relatively low cost must put the book within the budget of most who would be interested or who would benefit from the information conveyed. Most chapters are clearly written and supported by reasonably accessible tables, also in some cases by useful diagrams. They cover both general and in-depth concepts in an easily digestible form, whether as discussion of the issues involved or as sets of instructions where appropriate. As it is ans international authorship, where there is reference to legislation the reader must, of course, consider how that applies to their own country, but as much is based on practical requirements the translation of these details from one country to another will not be difficult. To illustrate the practical aspects of disinfection procedures for each sector, most give guidance both for routine circumstances and for clean-up following an outbreak of a notifiable disease. Important factors are hammered home throughout. The value of cleaning prior to application of disinfectant is emphasised - without doing so, much of the value of the treatment could be lost by inactivation through adsorption onto organic material (to a greater or lesser degree depending on the type of disinfectant). The different generic types of disinfectants are described - how they work and what might prevent them from doing so, e.g., incompatibility with the materials present or with the environmental conditions (such as temperature, water pH), or ineffectiveness against the micro-organisms likely to be present. The point is also made that the range of available disinfectants is limited and not likely to change, because of the cost of product development and licensing for a relatively low priced commodity. However, the book points out that, increasingly, combinations of the chemicals are being marketed, with additives such as wetting agents to enhance activity. So there is a need to know what they do, at what concentration, and to which microbe. This is important. Inappropriate or indiscriminate use of disinfectants can waste money, spread disease, lead to the development of resistant strains of pathogens, endanger the welfare of the animals and affect the health of exposed workers, leave unnecessary residues in foods of pollute the environment. Reading these books, or using them as a brief when advising others, should go long way toward reducing the likelihood of the above problems becoming out of control. This in itself should make the book a worthwhile investment. The first chapter in the first part is an entertaining start to the book, describing the history of disinfection from antiquity until this century. While some good principles of disinfection started to emerge through common sense and trial & error, others cried out for the understanding of microbiology that was to follow. The use of unicorns’ horns to
Book review
141
clean spoiled water obviously hastened the disappearance of the animal, while burning a mixture of gunpowder, salt, crushed juniper berries and laurel wood to fumigate against anthrax sounds like a risk almost on a par with the disease.
BRIAN COOK, Microbiology Section, Biomedical Sciences Group, Health & Safety Laboratory, Shefield S3 7HQ, England
Cattle lameness Illustrated Handbook on Cattle Lameness, by Paul R. Greenough, LaVeme M. Schugel
and A. Bruce Johnson, 1995, Zinpro Corporation, Eden Prarie, MN, 30 pp., US$S.OO
The material is a well illustrated handbook (four drawings; 83 colored pictures) describing normal hoof anatomy, evaluation methods, common bovine hoof disease conditions, hoof care procedures and management of stress, environment and nutrition as related to lameness. The handbook would be of value to veterinary students in clinical rotations, practicing veterinarians, veterinary educators and liverstock producers. The handbook: may also be useful to researchers as they attempt to standardize descriptions during data collection. Primarily, the handbook provides excellent color pictures of the various conditions to aid in diagnosis. As indicated by the authors, the handbook is not meant to be exhaustive. However, it does provide sufficient insight to guide the user towards solutions for cattle lamenesses. This guidance is given through descriptions of each problem followed by risk factors, treatments and control measures. The strength of the handbook is the excellent color photographs of the various conditions. Through these photographs, I think the authors have accomplished their goal of providing a basis for diagnostic standardization. Handbook users can quickly catergorize lamenesses into general classifications provided by the authors. Their general advice for prevention and control is sound. At this price (US$S.OO), it is a good buy.
JOHN H. KIRK Large Animal Surgery and Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849 USA