The Challenge of Disinfection and Sterilization in Veterinary Practice

A special issue of Hygiene (ISSN 2673-947X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 3854

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Sciences, School of Agrarian and Veterinary Sciences, Veterinary and Animal Research Center (CECAV), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: veterinary sciences; parasitology; parasitic diseases; epidemiology; one health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Institute for Innovation, Capacity Building and Sustainability of Agri-Food Production (Inov4Agro), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
2. Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: animal models; in vivo studies; natural compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The challenge of disinfection and sterilization in veterinary practice is critical in ensuring the health and safety of both animal patients and veterinary staff.

Infection control is crucial in veterinary medicine for providing high-quality patient care and guaranteeing a safe working environment for staff in shelters, veterinary hospitals, and clinics. An essential component of infection control and biosecurity programs is the maintenance of high standards of hygiene, to provide quality care at any medical facility, including mitigation of the risk of nosocomial infection. The choice of disinfection and sterilization methods and the conditions in which they are used are critically important.

Disinfection and sterilization protocols must balance the disease-suppressing benefits of sanitation processes with the negative impact of overzealous procedures that inflict unnecessary stress on animals and contribute to disease expression.

This Special Issue plans to collect the most recent advances in disinfection and sterilization methods in infection control practice in veterinary centres and shelters. Original research articles and comprehensive reviews that cover sterilization, ultraviolet disinfection, ozone disinfection, new disinfectants, hand disinfection (e.g., surgical hand antisepsis), the role of organic load/debris on the efficacy of disinfection procedures, advanced monitoring systems, and education and training in veterinary practice or shelter medicine are welcome in this Special issue. 

Dr. Ana Cláudia Coelho
Dr. Luís Cardoso
Dr. Paula A. Oliveira
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Hygiene is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • disinfection
  • environmental hygiene
  • infection control
  • infectious diseases
  • large-animal practice
  • sanitation
  • small-animal practice
  • shelters
  • sterilization
  • veterinary hospital

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 3438 KiB  
Article
Unveiling the Mechanisms for Campylobacter jejuni Biofilm Formation Using a Stochastic Mathematical Model
by Paulina A. Dzianach, Gary A. Dykes, Norval J. C. Strachan, Ken J. Forbes and Francisco J. Pérez-Reche
Hygiene 2024, 4(3), 326-345; https://doi.org/10.3390/hygiene4030026 - 8 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1330
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni plays a significant role in human health, food production, and veterinary practice. Biofilm formation is a likely mechanism explaining the survival of C. jejuni in seemingly unfavourable environments, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We propose a mathematical model to [...] Read more.
Campylobacter jejuni plays a significant role in human health, food production, and veterinary practice. Biofilm formation is a likely mechanism explaining the survival of C. jejuni in seemingly unfavourable environments, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We propose a mathematical model to unify various observations regarding C. jejuni biofilm formation. Specifically, we present a cellular automaton with stochastic dynamics that describes both the probability of biofilm initiation and its subsequent growth. Our model incorporates fundamental processes such as cell rearrangement, diffusion of chemical compounds, accumulation of extracellular material, cell growth, lysis, and deactivation due to nutrient scarcity. The model predicts an optimal nutrient concentration that enhances population survival, revealing a trade-off where higher nutrient levels may harm individual cells but benefit the overall population. Our results suggest that the lower biofilm accumulation observed experimentally in aerobic conditions compared to microaerobic conditions may be due to a reduced surface invasion probability of individual cells. However, cells that do manage to invade can generate microcolonies of a similar size under both aerobic and microaerobic conditions. These findings provide new insights into the survival probability and size of C. jejuni biofilms, suggesting potential targets for controlling its biofilm formation in various environments. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop