Future Directions in Rodent Pathogen Control.

The use of laboratory rodents is, and will continue to be, essential in biomedical research. However, like all living things, laboratory rodents have their associated "baggage" of other organisms, whether paying passengers, silent stowaways, or mutineers and pirates of the goods at hand. In other words, we should expect laboratory rodents to have characteristic health flaws. The field of laboratory animal science and medicine concerns, among many things, understanding and controlling the pathogens that are laboratory rodents' small but influential cohabitants. In this brief presentation, I review the history of rodent pathogen control and offer my expectation of the field in the future. Finally, I suggest a few practical ways in which laboratory animal scientists can further contribute to biomedical research and the betterment of society by facilitating greater understanding of the effects of microbes on laboratory rodents.