title: Use of Ronidazole and Limited Culling To Eliminate Tritrichomonas muris from Laboratory Mice.
abstract: Tritrichomonas muris is occasionally identified during routine fecal screening of laboratory mice. Frequently, entire racks are affected, and because no effective treatment is available, culling of affected mice and rederivation by embryo transfer have been suggested. The current study evaluated whether treatment with ronidazole, a nitroimidazole efficacious against T. fetus infections in cats, combined with limited culling was effective against T. muris in laboratory mice (Mus musculus). A subset (n = 39) of mice were treated with ronidazole (400 mg/L in drinking water) for 15 d, after which 6 of the mice still shed T. muris. Consequently all mice in the affected rack received ronidazole (500 mg /L in drinking water) for 25 d. All mice were retested by using pooled samples, and those positive for T. muris (except for a valuable breeding pair) were culled. The remaining mice continued to receive ronidazole for another 17 d. At the end of the treatment period, all mice were tested (days 60 and 81) and were shown to be negative for T. muris. Over the following year, sentinel mice from the rack were tested every 3 mo and remained negative for tritrichomonads by fecal smear. Thus, a combination of limited culling and treatment with ronidazole in the drinking water successfully cleared research mice of infection with T. muris.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Gastrointestinal Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A and M University, College Station, Texas, USA. jsteiner@cvm.tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Jörg M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.affiliation: Center for Preclinical Research, Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schwamberger
authors.affiliation: IDEXX Laboratories, Ludwigsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Nikola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pantchev
authors.affiliation: IDEXX Laboratories, Ludwigsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Jörg
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Balzer
authors.affiliation: IDEXX Laboratories, Ludwigsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Majda Globokar
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Vrhovec
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lesina
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Algül
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D060740:Disease Eradication / Q000379:methods; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012385:Ronidazole / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014318:Tritrichomonas / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D012385:Ronidazole