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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1973 August; 26(2): 167-172
Copyright © 1973 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Mass Airflow Cabinet for Control of Airborne Infection of Laboratory Rodents

¹ Department of Microbiology, Institute for Medical Research, Camden, New Jersey 08103

ABSTRACT

A mass airflow cabinet for handling and housing of laboratory rodents has been developed and tested. The unit consists of a high-efficiency particulate air filter and uniform distribution of air at a vertical velocity of 19 cm per s. Animals are maintained without bedding in mesh-bottomed cages that rest on rollers for rotation inside the cabinet. There is an air barrier of 90 cm per s separating the cabinet air from room air. Sampling for airborne bacteria yielded an average of 0.03 colony-forming units (CFU) per ft³ of air inside the cabinet, whereas 28.8 CFU per ft³ was simultaneously detected outside the cabinet during housekeeping, a reduction of almost three logs. The efficiency of the air barrier was tested by aerosolization of T3 phage. When phage was aerosolized 5 cm outside the cabinet, no phage could be detected 5 cm inside when the fans were operating; with the fans off an average of 1.6 x 10⁴ plaque-forming units (PFU) per ft³ was detected in six tests. Aerosolization of phage inside the cabinet yielded an average of 9 x 10 PFU per ft³ outside; an average of 4.1 x 10⁶ PFU per ft³ were detected with the fans not in operation, a reduction of more than four logs. In-use studies on effectiveness showed that the cabinet significantly reduced the incidence of mice originally titer-free to Reo-3 virus. Hemagglutination inhibition antibodies to Reo-3 were detected in 9/22 (42%) mice housed in a conventionally ventilated animal laboratory while no seroconversion was detected in any of 22 mice housed in the mass air flow cabinet in the same laboratory.