Risk-based approach to the health monitoring of rabbits

Health monitoring of laboratory rodents is essential to ensure the health and welfare of the animals and to standardize biomedical research. Recently, progress in the field of housing and hygiene programs has led to significant improvements in the microbiological quality of laboratory animals. At the same time, traditional methods of health monitoring and pathogen detection continue to serve as powerful tools for diagnosing common animal diseases. Constant monitoring and strict barrier breeding and husbandry of laboratory rodents have resulted in colonies that are free of previously common pathogens and even most opportunistic microorganism with means limited diversity in the animal microbiome. Moreover, the application of the well-known international list of pathogens to the monitoring of animals raised in a completely different territory based on epidemiological characteristics seems inappropriate. In this regard, approaches to health monitoring have to be reviewed and reformed in order to increase the reliability and relevance of all data obtained. This article discusses a method for selecting relevant and indicative microorganisms (risk-based approach) for monitoring the health of laboratory rodents in Russia. Based on the results of the assessment, a current list was identified for isolated colonies of laboratory mice, rats, guinea pigs, gerbils and hamsters. The resulting list of pathogens differs from international recommendations and is more applicable to animals used in Russian testing centers.