DAN: "What is the most effective, yet safe way
to properly disinfect grooming tools,
tack, water troughs, feed buckets, et cetera.
Also, how often do you recommend disinfecting?"
This is a great question.
DR LYDIA GRAY: We get it a lot, a lot too.
DAN: A lot.
And we should all be doing it.
We're probably-- more than we should be.
DR LYDIA GRAY: You may be surprised at my answer.
DAN: Oh, OK.
But also, fun fact, this is Meaghan's fifth win
including three months in a row that she's
had a question answered.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Nice.
DAN: Meaghan knows how to get her questions voted in.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I wonder if she's stacking up
her gift certificates, or like buying something--
DAN: Oh, like a big shopping spree
right around holiday season?
Yeah, absolutely.
Congrats, Meaghan.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, good, and they're good questions.
So before I get into this and forget,
I want to give you guys a great, great resource.
It's the Equine Disease Communication Center,
and we'll put the link up on there.
But there's a whole page on there about disinfection--
well, biosecurity.
DAN: Biosecurity?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, and I'll read
the definition of biosecurity.
It sounds--
DAN: It sounds very scary.
DR LYDIA GRAY: It's defined as procedures
intended to protect humans and/or animals against disease
or harmful biologic agents, and includes things
like quarantining new arrivals, isolating sick horses,
and practicing good hygiene on and off the farm.
That's biosecurity.
And vets are trained in this.
That's one of the courses we take
in vet school is biosecurity.
So your vet will know how to clean and disinfect.
And you'll notice that a veterinarian will always
say "clean and disinfect."
Whenever you use the word disinfect alone,
there's a reason for that.
The reason is disinfectants are inactivated--
most of them-- in the presence of organic matter.
So a disinfectant that a human hospital might use
might not work at all on the farm,
because organic material is feces, urine, it's blood,
it's any kind of discharge.
DAN: Basically anything that's at the barn.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, anything that comes out
of or off your horse will render the disinfectant
inactive and ineffective.
So you have to clean first.
And here's the cool thing.
And I learned this, again, in vet school from Dr.
Gordon Baker-- thank you, Dr. Baker--
that just good old soap is a great way
to reduce the bacteria.
DAN: Just regular soap?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
And back in my day, we just had soap.
Now, we have antibacterial soap, which is to a veterinarian,
is a little bit of an oxymoron.
Because all soap is antibacterial.
DAN: You mean it's just like a marketing term?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Maybe.
So when you clean with soap--
and you can use soap-- if you're going to follow up
with the disinfectant, you would use something called detergent.
And they're related, but different enough
to be important.
But when you clean with soap or detergent,
it removes or kills 90% of the bacteria.
DAN: Wow.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So you only have 10% left.
DAN: Small.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Disinfectants only get 6% to 7%
of the remaining amount.
DAN: OK, so you still got a couple percentages left?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, because you're not sterilizing.
And you can never sterilize a barn, right?
It's just the surfaces are too porous for that.
You can't even sterilize--
you know, if it's steel or plastic or concrete--
I mean, they're just too porous.
They may not look like it to the human eye,
but the bacteria is so small.
So cleaning is really the best thing.
And I would say--
I mean, good old elbow grease-- is clean stuff more regularly
than you are doing.
And maybe don't worry about disinfecting--
maybe once a year, maybe just after there's
an outbreak of something.
DAN: Really?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Because here's the reason,
disinfectants are organism specific.
So we'll say bleach--
very common-- it's cheap, it's-- you can get it at the grocery
store.
Everybody knows how to use bleach.
I mean, you should always read the label,
but that's pretty common stuff.
But it's probably the worst at retaining its effectiveness
in the presence of organic matter.
So as soon as there's any sort of manure,
it doesn't work anymore.
DAN: So that's like--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Useless.
DAN: Useless.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, it's a waste of money, waste of time.
And it gives you sort of a false sense of security.
So cleaning is really the best thing.
Now, management practices-- this is part of biosecurity--
are really where you should spend your time and energy.
So management practices are--
shock of all shocks, the best thing you can do--
wash your hands.
I know, everyone's sick of hearing it.
DAN: Mind blown.
DR LYDIA GRAY: The best you can do is wash your hands
or use a hand sanitizer.
Don't allow visitors to go from horse to horse.
Because-- I know you're waiting for this word--
fomite.
DAN: Oh, yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Fomite is when an inanimate object
was-- like my clipboard.
If I go from stall to stall and set it down, and pick it
up, and then take it to the next stall
and set it down, this then, has picked up
germs, pathogens, bacteria--
DAN: Just carrying it everywhere.
DR LYDIA GRAY: --and I'm putting it in each stall.
Fomites can be hoses.
I went to a show once and had a friend come,
and she's like, oh, I'll fill up his water bucket.
I turn around, and there was music from a horror movie
as I see her with the community, facility
hose in Newman's bucket.
You could imagine the mere--
DAN: The look on your face probably--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, I think I tackled her.
We're no longer friends.
But that's just no-no.
So it's interesting to watch a veterinarian set their stall up
at a show.
DAN: Oh, I can only imagine what your stall looks like.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, you'd be shocked.
It's clean.
I do not share equipment.
Like if there's a water trough at a show facility,
I wouldn't let my horse near it.
What?
He doesn't-- I don't walk up and down the shed row and see
a horse and go, oh, let's smell noses.
No.
So it's biosecurity in all things.
I think if you put your energy towards that
versus disinfecting--
because to disinfect, you have to know what
you're disinfecting against.
So it's great after a strangles outbreak-- during or after--
after an influenza outbreak, or if herpes
virus goes through your barn.
DAN: Because then you know what disinfectant to use.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Exactly, exactly.
And don't forget, your vet knows what disinfectant to use.
Because we classify bugs as like gram positive,
gram negative, enveloped versus non-enveloped.
And your disinfectants will all say on there,
kills gram positive bacteria, like a strep
that has strangles.
So if it kills the gram positive bacteria, I'll recommend that.
So ask your vet, because they know all these things.
And they'll probably tell you.
If you want to disinfect, great.
But there's lots of other things you can do.
Don't forget this.
Important things are after you clean, let something
sit in the sun.
In fact, pick a day that's a bright sunny day.
Because sunlight-- UV light-- is one of the best disinfectants,
and it's free.
DAN: That's what we all love, because horses are expensive.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I know.
And you may need to rinse.
And air drying is super good, too.
Because when something air dries, the bacteria,
the cell wall will--
you can imagine if something has water sucked out of it.
It dies.
I mean, the bacteria cell will die if it's allowed to air dry.
DAN: We're going to see people's barns now have stuff laid
out all across the front of it.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I do.
When I clean my brushes, I don't disinfect them, I just
clean them.
And then I lay them out in the sun.
I watch the forecast.
I wait for two sunny days in a row,
and I lay them out in the sun.
DAN: Doesn't get much easier than that.
DR LYDIA GRAY: That's how I disinfect.
DAN: Who doesn't love that?
So just more about general clean,
being clean around the barn, cleaning up after yourself,
and only disinfecting about--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Being thoughtful.
DAN: Like around if there's an outbreak of some sort.
DR LYDIA GRAY: If there's an outbreak, or--
I mean, if you want to, do it.
I'm not going to discourage you from doing it.
But all disinfectants are toxic.
They cost money.
You have to do them correctly, dilute them correctly.
You have to read the label as far as-- they might not even
be compatible with the detergent you used.
If you use the wrong detergent, like the soap is
a cation and disinfectant is an anion, it doesn't work.
It's ineffective.
DAN: But you feel good about it.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I know, but then it's a false sense of security.
So I think keeping stuff clean is the way to go.
DAN: And don't let them share that water trough.
DR LYDIA GRAY: No, do not put hoses in the water bucket.