From probation to prevention: protecting college students and workers from animal hazards

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to develop an organized system to assess individual and group exposure to animal hazards on a college campus. MAIN POINTS: The scope and complexity of college health services continue to expand as campuses confront unforeseen exposures and disease entities. Of great concern are students and faculty who are exposed to potentially life threatening and other serious conditions during their academic work. CONCLUSION: A college health service developed an effective animal-hazard surveillance questionnaire that could be scanned and analyzed for individual and group exposure to hazards and the presence or absence of protective measures. The college then provided appropriate preventive services.