The City Veterinarian’s Office is continually improving the safety of the Davao City Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (DCADDL) located at Davao City Pound Compound, Maa, Davao City. The laboratory has been providing rapid diagnostic information to support disease control, health management of livestock, poultry,  and companion animals.   The office envisioned that DCADDL will be an up-dated and modern diagnostic laboratory that delivers excellent services to the citizens of Davao and implement quality management system.

Persons working in clinical diagnostic laboratories are exposed to many risks.   To adhere to the recommended and science-based safety precautions, a Biological Safety Cabinet (BSC Class II) was purchased by the office for the current year. The primary purpose of a BSC is to serve as a means to protect the laboratory worker and the surrounding environment from pathogens. The processing of the Rabies specimen samples submitted to the DCADDL is done in the BSC or Biosafety Cabinet.  A Class II cabinet is defined as a ventilated cabinet for personnel, product and environmental protection for microbiological work or sterile pharmacy compounding (lifted from https://www.labconco.com/articles/topic/lab-safety).

Another safety precaution equipment acquired was autoclave.  An autoclave is a machine that is used to eradicate biohazardous waste from the surface of tools or instruments. Autoclaves sterilize or disinfect through physical means by using pressure, temperature and steam. They are often referred to as steam sterilization machines (lifted from: https://www.scienceabc.com/).   For the DCADDL, the autoclave will be used to sterilize all Rabies specimen before its disposal.