OVERVIEW:
In response to rising levels of pathogens and stress in laboratory animals during air changes and cage changes in individually ventilation cage (IVC) systems, a solution was sought to ensure minimal environment agitation during disinfection. Typical IVC systems require 60 air changes per hour (ACH) and cage changes every 10-14 in order to maintain an ideal, healthy environment for the subjects within. The stress induced by the frequency of these shifts compromised the validity of test subjects used in both
specific pathogen free and non-specific pathogen free studies.

SCOPE OF WORK:

Reduce stress levels and ensure the health of subjects by reducing
the number of pathogens within an individually vented cage more
efficiently than standard methods.

PRODUCTS USED:

• Lenderking Comfort Cage Hygieia
• SteraMist^® BIT™ Solution

MEETING THE NEED:
Lenderking’s Comfort Cage Hygieia features an individually ventilated cage (IVC) system for mice, a raised floor featuring 7,000 small holes encouraging ventilation under the bedding for reduced ammonia levels, and horizontal supply/exhaust ducts that use 75% less airflow than other IVCs, connecting all eight cages to a plenum. These features perfectly compliment the movement of SteraMist^® ionized Hydrogen Peroxide, which allows the mist to travel through cages in each row through seven foot ducts.

THE RESULT:
The combination of the Comfort Cage Hygieia system and SteraMist^® disinfection reduced the necessary ACH per hour from 60 to 15, increasing the cage change intervals from 15 days to 33 more than double the length of time. After a 33 day no cage-change study on a fully-loaded cages of either 5 adult female mice or 2 adult female mice with their litters, SteraMist^® achieved broad spectrum disinfection, registering a six log reduction in organisms, increasing subject quality of life conditions.