Is Your IVC Effectively Containing Laboratory Animal Allergens?

  • The impact of laboratory animal allergy (LAA) exposure as an occupational hazard has been recognized since the early 1970s and is well documented in LAS trade publications, scientific journal articles, and governmental agency reports. Studies have reported that 20 – 30 percent of lab animal workers experience some form of LAA-related allergic response, from mild reactions like rhinitis, skin and eye irritation, to more severe reactions like ocular, nasal, skin, and laryngeal edema. The direct and hidden costs associated with LAA can be staggering to facilities that conduct laboratory animal research. Depending on the jurisdiction, direct worker compensation claim costs can be extremely high, up to and including total disability. The hidden costs of these cases can be even more severe, with organizations losing highly-trained staff to these illnesses. This loss of knowledge, costs of re-training, increases to insurance costs, and other factors creates significant financial impact, felt ever more strongly in today’s challenging economic climate.

    “Costs associated with LAA can be staggering to facilities that conduct laboratory animal research.”

    Individually ventilated cage systems (IVCs) have been shown in several studies to effectively contain rat and mouse allergens, but can still be a cause for serious concern if they do not perform according to accepted standards of allergen containment, i.e. exhaust and supply ports maintaining proper polarity both when cages are docked and even when they are not.

    Contact your Technical Sales Consultant to learn how you can confirm that your IVCs are operating as they should, and that exhaust and supply ports are maintaining proper polarity with cages docked and undocked.