Skip to main content

Infectious Diseases of Mice and Rats (1991) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

4. Health Surveillance Programs
Pages 21-28

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 21...
... Health surveillance programs are systematic laboratory investigations that employ batteries of tests for the purpose of defining the pathogen and health status of an animal population. Health surveillance programs are crucially important in rodent disease prevention they provide data.
Read the entire page →
From page 22...
... Therefore, in designing health surveillance programs, decisions must be made as to which agents are to be covered in the test battery. For practical reasons, It IS 1mposslole to test for all known infectious agents of rodents, or even all infectious agents that theoretically could interfere with a particular study.
Read the entire page →
From page 23...
... refer to summaries of individual agents in Part II of this volume. bAbbreviations used for tests: ELISA = enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, CF = complement fixation, IFA = indirect immunofluorescence, NT = neutralization test, HAI = hemagglutination inhibition.
Read the entire page →
From page 24...
... Therefore, positive results based on a single serologic procedure are far less definitive in diagnostic value than positive results of a direct test such as isolation and identification of an agent. For this reason, serologic testing should rely on a primary test for each agent and one or more tests to confirm the positive results of any primary test (Smith, 1986b)
Read the entire page →
From page 25...
... enteritidis infection is suspected. However, for routine health surveillance sample sizes are usually based on assumed infection rates of 40-50% in order to keep sample sizes reasonable.
Read the entire page →
From page 26...
... There are no established guidelines, but the problem seems to revolve around four central issues: the specific purpose of the population in question, the potential or real importance a pathogen or other contamination is to the use of the population, the level of risk of pathogen contamination from other nearby rodent populations, and economic considerations. After evaluating these basic questions, one should have a basis for deciding whether testing should be monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annually.
Read the entire page →
From page 27...
... if the greatest risks are deemed to be from mouse hepatitis virus and Sendai virus, tests for these agents could be performed monthly and the larger battery could be done biannually. Sentinel Animals Rodents for health surveillance purposes are sometimes introduced into a rodent population, housed in open cages placed systematically throughout the colony, and designated as sentinels for use in periodic testing.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • surveillance programs
  • diagnostic laboratories
  • infectious agents
  • principal population
  • infection rate

  • serologic tests
  • assumed infection
  • rodent diagnostic
  • test battery
  • positive results

  • serologic testing
  • primary test
  • sendai virus
  • laboratory rodents
  • hemagglutination inhibition

  • immunosorbent assay
  • antibody production
  • complement fixation
  • virus infections
  • pathogen contamination

  • hepatitis virus
  • mouse hepatitis
  • rodent population
  • designing health
  • pathogen status

  • retired breeders
  • detecting infection
  • individual programs
  • rodent disease
  • hai tests


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.