The ICLAS Monitoring Center is now accepting orders for screening laboratory animals for the following 10 pathogens:

Test item: Corynebacterium bovis
Experimental animal species: mice and rats
Method: culture
Sample: animals (mice and rats) or swabs from a skin

・Corynebacterium bovis is classified as a category D, it has been known to cause dermatitis with dandruff (scaling) into hairless and immunodeficient mice and rats.
Testing is performed by culturing swabs from a skin.

Test item: Klebsiella oxytoca、Klebsiella pneumoniae
Experimental animal species: mice and rats
Method: culture
Sample: animals (mice and rats), cecal contents or fresh feces

・Klebsiella oxytoca and Klebsiella pneumoniae are classified as a category D, and are non-pathogenic bacteria belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae.
Testing is performed by culturing cecal contents or fresh feces.

Test item: Pasteurellaceae
Experimental animal species: mice and rats
Method: culture
Sample: animals (mice and rats)

・Test item under Pasteurellaceae in laboratory mice and rats include Pasteurella pneumotropica, Pasteurellaceae of rodents such as Actinobacillus muris and Haemophilus influenzae-murium, and Pasteurella multocida as well.
Testing is performed by culturing respiratory specimens.

Test item: Streptobacillus moniliformis
Experimental animal species: mice and rats
Method: culture
Sample: animals (mice and rats)

・The occurrence of Streptobacillus moniliformis among laboratory animals (mice and rats) is generally extremely low because the pathogen is carried essentially by wild rats (sewer rats) and pet rats, and is transmitted mainly through bites.
While rats infected with this pathogen are asymptomatic, infected mice develop sepsis, although the severity may vary among strains.
Streptobacillus moniliformis is a zoonotic pathogen that causes life-threatening infection (rat-bite fever) in humans if bitten by an infected rat.
Testing is performed by culturing salivary gland specimens (Reference：Hayashimoto N., et al. 2008).

Test item: β-hemolytic Streptococcus (BHS)
Experimental animal species: mice and rats
Method: culture
Sample: animals (mice and rats)

・β-hemolytic Streptococcus is a group of chain-forming streptococcus bacteria with β-hemolytic properties that forms colonies on blood agar.
Mice and rats infected by members of this group are asymptomatic, but Streptococcus zooepidemicus causes hemolysis in guinea pigs.
Testing is performed by culturing respiratory specimens.

Test item: Mouse thymic virus MTLV)
Experimental animal species: mice
Method: serology
Sample: animals (mice) or sera

・Mouse thymic virus is a DNA virus whose natural host is the mouse. Naturally infected mice are asymptomatic, and the prevalence of mouse thymic virus is extremely low.

Test item: Murine astrovirus ( MuAstV)
Experimental animal species: mice
Method: PCR
Sample: animals (mice), cecal contents or fresh feces

・Murine astrovirus (MuAstV) is a newly discovered mouse virus, but appears to be non-pathogenic to mice.
Testing involves PCR of cecal contents or fresh feces.

Test item: Encephalitozoon cuniculi
Experimental animal species: mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs
Method: histpathological examination
Sample: animals (mice, rats, rabbits and guinea pigs) or kidney (formalin-fixed)

・While protozoan Encephalitozoon cuniculi is an opportunistic pathogen in rabbit, infected mice, rats, and guinea pigs are asymptomatic, and infection by this organism is believed to be extremely low.
Testing involves histopathological examination of the kidney.

Test item: Klossiella spp.
Experimental animal species: mice and rats
Method: histpathological examination
Sample: animals (mice and rats) or kidney (formalin-fixed)

・Klossiella spp. is a protozoan that infects the kidney.
There has been no report of Klossiella spp. infection in Japan.
Testing involves histopathological examination of the kidney.