A survey of Pneumocystis carinii infection in research mouse colonies in Japan.
To determine the frequency of Pneumocystis carinii infection in mouse colonies maintained for biomedical research in medical colleges or medical faculties in universities in Japan, 409 nu/nu mice were sent to 43 animal facilities from a P. carinii-free colony. The animals were housed for 6 months in groups of 3 to 10 animals per room, and examined for the presence of parasites and infection. Colonies in 10 (24.4%) of 41 facilities were positive for the infection. Of 383 animals in 69 rooms, the organism was detected in 66 (17.2%) animals in 13 (18.8%) rooms. The difference in the proportion of rooms where mice were positive for P. carinii is clearly seen among these three groups; SPF mouse rooms (4 of 38 rooms, 10.5%), SPF mouse rooms with breeding units (5 of 25 rooms, 20.0%) and conventional mouse rooms (4 of 6 rooms, 66.7%). The survey indicates that strict housing arrangements and husbandry techniques are necessary to keep SPF mice free from P. carinii infection.
Serikawa
T
T
Institute of Laboratory Animals, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan.
Kitada
K
K
Muraguchi
T
T
Yamada
J
J
D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory / Q000382:microbiology*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude / Q000382:microbiology*; D011020:Pneumonia, Pneumocystis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms