Rodent Health Monitoring
Health monitoring strategies for your rodent colonies
Rodent Health Monitoring Strategies
A strategy for monitoring the health of rodents involves systematically monitoring your colonie for pathogens that could compromise animal welfare and the integrity of the research.
Traditionally, stock animals or sentinel animals, i.e. mice/rats that come into contact with colony animals or the colony's bedding, are used for this purpose. Alternatively or in addition, monitoring can be carried out using environmental samples (exhaust air filters, contact filters, swabs).
All options enable complete monitoring of the animals' health status in accordance with FELASA recommendations. In order to develop a comprehensive monitoring programme, a combination of different screening strategies as a holistic approach can help to minimise risks and meet all biosafety and research requirements.
GVG Diagnostics offers comprehensive solutions for all screening options and combinations. We would also be happy to advise you on implementing an optimal strategy for your animal husbandry in accordance with your requirements and needs.
Monitoring of colonie or sentinel animals
The examination of colonie or sentinel animals includes serological, microbiological, molecular biological and pathological examinations of the animals. This method is particularly well suited for detecting pathogens that survive only briefly outside their host or are not or hardly excreted (e.g. Pneumocystis carinii). The combination of microbiological culture and MALDI-TOF analysis detects not only pathogenic but also many opportunistic pathogens.
Based on the FELASA recommendations, we offer various testing packages for many animal species. The FELASA S package covers the recommended quarterly testing, and the L package covers the annual testing. If you also want to test for other pathogens and opportunistic organisms, then the XL or XXL packages are the right choice for you.
In-vivo Monitoring
In vivo monitoring is well suited for health monitoring of quarantine or stock animals or as a supplement to monitoring using environmental samples. Samples are taken directly from the test animals using swabs (oral, anal, fur) as well as blood and faecal samples. These samples enable comprehensive serological, microbiological and molecular biological examination of the animals.
GVG Diagnostics offers test packages and sampling kits tailored for quarterly (FELASA S) or annual testing (FELASA L), as well as extended pathogen spectra (FELASA XL and XXL).
Environmental Health Monitoring
GVG Diagnostics supports all common methods for health monitoring based on environmental samples (swabs, exhaust air filters, PathoScreener).
PathoScreener
The examination of exhaust air filters is not possible in all cage systems or open housing systems. In these cases, a specially developed contact filter (PathoScreener) can be used instead of sentinel animals. This filter is incubated with contaminated bedding from the colony animals each time the cage is changed. The PathoScreener filter can then be examined using PCR.
GVG provides extensive PCR panels for examining PathoScreener filters:
Exhaust air filters
Special filters are exposed to the exhaust air flow from the cage racks (Tecniplast, Allentown, etc.) and are then analysed using comprehensive PCR tests. The examination of exhaust air filters is a good addition to other monitoring strategies.
GVG Diagnostics offers comprehensive PCR panels for testing exhaust air filters:
Room and equipment monitoring
Samples are taken directly from the laboratory animal housing environment and examined, including walls, floors and equipment that come into contact with rodents or use open cages. Sampling is carried out using swabs and enables subsequent molecular biological or microbiological examination. This method is useful, for example, to confirm the disinfection status of surfaces after an outbreak.
Questions about our health monitoring services?
Whether information on services and products, orders or questions - our team will advise you personally.