ILAR Journal

ILAR Journal Current Issue — 49(3) 2008

DETECTION AND MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION IN LABORATORY RODENTS
The mouse poses unique challenges because of the nature of the beast: there are many inbred strains with intrinsic and extrinsic genetic susceptibility to various agents, mutant strains, and immunodeficient strains, and there is much more sophisticated research that is subject to relatively subtle experimental variables compared to other species. Drawing the line between overt pathogens, opportunistic pathogens, and normal microflora/-fauna of the mouse can be daunting, if not impossible. And because most infectious "diseases" of laboratory rodents tend to be subclinical, there is ambivalence in the scientific community about their importance, so good surveillance and diagnostic programs, even if successful, are likely to be unappreciated or even eliminated when funding gets tight. So it may seem that microbial surveillance and control is a Gordian knot with no solutions; but it is really not that complicated, as the authors in this issue explain based on their expertise and experience.

—Adapted from the Introduction

Issue editors: Stephen Barthold and Abigail Smith

Articles in this issue:

Introduction: Microbes and the Evolution of Scientific Fancy Mice
Opportunistic Infections of Mice and Rats: Jacoby and Lindsey Revisited
Lurking in the Shadows: Emerging Rodent Infectious Diseases
Old Enemies, Still with Us after All These Years
New Building, Old Parasite: Mesostigmatid Mites—An Ever-Present Threat to Barrier Facilities
From Bench to Cageside: Risk Assessment for Rodent Pathogen Contamination of Cells and Biologics
Role of Housing Modalities on Management and Surveillance Strategies for Adventitious Agents of Rodents
Institutional Responsibilities in Contamination Control for Research Animals and Occupational Health and Safety for Animal Handlers
International Harmonization of Health Monitoring
Rodent and Germplasm Trafficking: Risks of Microbial Contamination in a High-Tech Biomedical World

Expanding ILAR Journal content with pertinent ONLINE ONLY articles.

To All Readers/Authors:
If you have a manuscript or laboratory refinement that relates to science-based, high-quality, humane care of animals, novel animal or other biological models for the study of disease, or any other topic pertinent to the mission of ILAR, you may submit it for publication in the ILAR e-Journal. Preferential consideration is given to manuscripts relating to recent (or forthcoming) topics published in the print edition.

Interested authors should follow the ILAR Journal Instructions to Authors, email their manuscript to ILAR@nas.edu, and include "Prospective MS" in the subject line of the email.

The ILAR Journal is the quarterly, peer-reviewed publication of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR). In keeping with the ILAR mission, invited authors provide thoughtful and timely information for all who use, care for, and oversee the use of laboratory animals. Issue themes and article topics are pertinent for investigators in biomedical and related research, institutional officials for research, veterinarians, and members of animal care and use committees. The ILAR e-Journal is the peer-reviewed electronic companion and supplement to our print journal and provides additional laboratory animal research content online in conjunction with the quarterly print issues of the Journal. The ILAR Journal is indexed in MEDLINE, AGRICOLA, EMBASE, and Thomson ISI^®.

ILAR e-Journal is available ONLY ONLINE. Institutional members have online access to current ILAR Journal and ILAR e-Journal issues. For more information, contact Kathleen Beil at Kbeil@nas.edu.

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