All racks in continuous use are being monitored via dirty bedding sentinel animals and random animals. These are young females outbred mice and rat strains, CD-1 and Sprague Dawley, respectively. Cage change frequency is two weeks for mice and one week for rats. Sentinels receive dirty bedding at all cage changes.
Samples for microbiological testing are taken from live animals (blood, faeces, fur and oral samples) and tested at Idexx Bioresearch, Germany (MFA/IFA and Real-time PCR evaluation).
Only animals rederived in house or delivered from a trust commercial supplier may enter the Facility. Mice and rats delivered to the SPF/SOPF section need to be of SOPF/RF standard.
Animals entering the MDU need to be clean according to the FELASA testing protocol. These can origin from commercial vendors, the Barrier or our rederivation service. In some cases, animals from non-commercial suppliers can be accepted if they are free from pathogens defined according to FELASA recommendations and comply with the microbiological quality of KPM.