How Many Pairs Of Gloves Required For Rodent Barrier - T-Tees - Your Answers Await, Life's Questions Unraveled

The introduction of harmful microbial agents is potentially devastating to research and can be time-consuming and expensive to eradicate. Animal research facilities typically implement a variety of practices designed to prevent the introduction and spread of adventitial agents. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a mainstay of colony biosecurity and personnel protection. However, there is no accepted standard for the use of PPE in rodent rooms and therefore great variability in PPE use exists among research institutions.1,2,14

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PPE was a topic of discussion at the 2010 American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine forum, where the results of a questionnaire on PPE usage at academic and commercial institutions highlighted this variation.1 Of the respondents, 49% required head covering, 70% required shoe covering or dedicated shoes, 23% required disposable sleeves, and 97% required a set of gloves to be worn when manipulating immunocompetent rodents. At our institution, a disposable hair bonnet, gown, shoe covers, and gloves are required to enter the SPF rodent colonies, with the wearing of face masks being optional. According to responses to the forum survey, this PPE requirement is comparable to those of other institutions, but it is based on historic practices rather than performance data.

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Together, PPE and barrier housing are considered to be the primary facility and management procedures designed to isolate animals from infectious agents13 and to maintain SPF rodents. Barriers can be established at the cage, room, suite, or facility level.20 Establishing the barrier at the cage level requires the following:20 isolator caging systems,19,24 sanitized cages and water bottles, uncontaminated food and bedding, and the completion of all manipulations in change stations providing laminar-flow HEPA-filtered air.4 This process is termed microisolation technique and is implemented at our institution, where the barrier is maintained at the cage level.

Despite these practices, breaks in the microbiologic status still occur. All factors being equal, prevalent pathogens pose a higher risk than do rare ones, and 2 of the 3 most prevalent murine viral pathogens in research facilities are murine norovirus (MNV) and mouse hepatitis virus (MHV).6,26 MNV is a nonenveloped single-stranded RNA virus that was first described in a colony of RAG2/STAT1−/− mice,18 and MHV is an enveloped single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the family Coronaviridae.7 Recent surveys found MNV to be the most prevalent viral pathogen in North America and Europe, with MHV being the third most common.6,26 Rodent colonies at our institution are endemically infected with MNV, and one facility is endemically infected with MHV also.

In addition to being prevalent, these viruses affect animal health and research. MNV initially was shown to cause lethality in STAT1−/− mice18 and chronic infection of RAG2−/− mice18 and subsequently has been shown to cause clinical and subclinical disease in other immunodeficient and immunocompetent mice.25,28 In addition, MNV can modulate the disease course of other murine viruses when coinfected.10 Enteric MHV, now having largely superseded polytropic MHV strains in contemporary mouse colonies,16 causes subclinical infections in immunocompetent mice,7 but leads to disseminated multiorgan infection in immunodeficient mice.7 Transmission of both viruses is via the fecal-oral route. MHV is highly transmissible via direct contact, soiled bedding, and air.9,27 However MHV is labile in the environment.9,27 MNV is readily transmissible via contact and soiled bedding21 but is highly stable in the environment.4,12

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The aim of the current study was to evaluate whether the type of PPE worn affected viral spread to naïve animals within a dynamic mouse colony. To our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate disease spread in a facility in the context of different levels of PPE. We hypothesized that the level of PPE worn when microisolation technique was used would not affect the exposure of naïve mice to MNV and MHV in a colony that was endemically infected with these viruses. The rationale was that only the parts of the body in direct contact with the mouse and its environment need to be covered with PPE and sanitized. In this way, focused PPE use could prevent disease spread.

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