KENNETT SQUARE, PA -- Tyvek suits, facemasks, and gloves are the attire these days for Penn's New Bolton Center staffers who are scrubbing offices, treatment rooms, barns, and equipment. "Since we closed on May 10 we have scrubbed the entire hospital," says Bruce Rappoport, director of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals. "We have cultured the more than 70 buildings at New Bolton Center as well as our entire animal population, cows, horses, llamas, and pigs."

The culture results revealed that the Salmonella organism, which caused the closing, is confined to a few areas in the Widener Hospital. "The other buildings on campus, like the Allam House, the library, or the dairy, as well as our vehicles, were all negative as were the cultures for our animals," Rappoport says. "Thus our field service could continue to make farm calls as its vehicles operate from an area away from the Widener Hospital. Veterinarians drop off laboratory work and our pathology service accepts animals for autopsies. The reproduction clinic at the Hofmann Center is open."

The entire hospital, its barns, and the equipment have been cleaned and disinfected. After that, the barns were sandblasted. Now their bare block walls are being disinfected once more, prior to being painted.

Dirt floors in the barn stalls have been dug up and removed. A new drainage system is being installed in the barns prior to new concrete floors being poured. "This is a major undertaking," says Rappoport. "We are committed to making the facility as safe for our patients as possible."

Rappoport notes that there has been no human case of Salmonella infection  at New Bolton Center, nor have any of the resident animals come down with the disease. "We are continuing with our cleaning efforts and hope to reopen the entire Widener Hospital once it cultures clear. We are aiming for August 2," says Rappoport.