Animals may be commonly encountered in healthcare facilities, including those in formal pet therapy programs, service animals, and patient and staff pets. While there are clear benefits of human interactions with animals, there are also infectious disease concerns. The presenter will provide an overview of the infection control issues associated with pet therapy programs, present objective data from recent studies and outline newly developed guidelines for therapy programs.;Objectives: • Identify infectious disease concerns associated with animal contact • Determine practical infection control practices to reduce the risk of interspecies transmission of pathogens • Relate application of evidence based guidelines to animal therapy programs