quarantine health testing protocol 

The GEMS standard quarantine health monitoring protocol utilizes a combination of immunodeficient and immunocompetent sentinel animals and is designed to detect primary pathogens such as bacteria, parasites, or viruses in the colony. When your genetically engineered animals arrive at Charles River, we place four immunodeficient homozygous nude and four immunocompetent heterozygous nude sentinels into direct contact with your animals. We utilize this sentinel combination as the homozygous nude mice are sensitive to bacterial pathogens and endoparasites, while the immunocompetent heterozygous nude mice are used for detecting viral antibodies and ectoparasites. The sentinel animals remain in direct contact with your animals for two weeks. After the two week period, they are removed from direct contact and group housed in one sentinel cage. The sentinel cage receives dirty bedding from each of the cages that house your animals for an additional six weeks. After the eight-week period, half of the sentinels (two immunodeficient and two immunocompetent) are submitted to our on-site diagnostic laboratory. The remaining sentinels are held in the isolator in case the need to retest occurs.

The submitted sentinels are tested as follows:

• Bacteriology
  This testing includes the screening of respiratory and enteric cultures for bacterial species that are primary pathogens and for selected groups of bacteria that are considered to be important opportunistic pathogens. Bacteria that is routinely tested for include B. bronchiseptica, C. kutscheri, K. oxytoca, K. pneumoniae, P. multocida, P. pneumotropica, Pasteurella sp., Ps. aeruginosa, Pseudomonas sp., Staph. aureus, Strep. pneumoniae, Beta Strep. sp. – Group B, Beta Strep. sp. – Group G, Beta Strep sp., Salmonella sp., C. rodentium, and Citrobacter sp. In addition, Helicobacter billis, Helicobacter hepaticus, and Helicobacter genus are screened for via PCR.

• Parasitology
  For this testing, the pelage and skin are examined for mites and lice and the gastrointestinal tract is checked by various methods for protozoa and helminths. Helminths that are screened for include Aspiculuris tetraptera, Syphacia muris, and Syphacia obvelata. Protozoa that are screened for include Chilomastix sp., Entamoeba sp., Giardia sp., Hexamastix sp., Monocercomonoides sp, Retortamonas sp., Spironucleus sp., and Trichomonads.

• Pathology
  A complete post-mortem evaluation of the animal and a histological evaluation of any gross abnormalities noted is performed.

• Serology
  This testing is performed via a Multiplexed Fluorometric Immunoassay^TM (MFIA^TM). For any samples with inconclusive or unexpected results, we perform no charge confirmatory testing via alternative techniques such as indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA), hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay, and Western blot. Agents routinely screened for include SEND, PVM, MHV, MVM, MPV-1, MPV-2, NS-1, MNV, GDVII, REO, EDIM, LCMV, ECTRO, MAV 1 & 2, MCMV, K, POLY, HANT, MPUL, ECUN, CARB, MTLV.