Microbiological and environmental factors survey in two laboratory animal facilities from Western Romania

In Romania, experimentation on laboratory animals is hampered by major deficiencies regarding breeding systems, marketing and use of animals for scientific purposes, the provisions of The European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes and Directive 63/2010/EEC are not yet respected fully. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiology and environment of the housing conditions for animals used for scientific purposes. The survey was accomplished for a period of four months in two laboratory animal facilities located in West of Romania, by measuring the microenvironment physical, chemical and microbiological factors. The registered values of physical and chemical factors in the visited facilities were similar (average temperature 21°C, relative humidity 55%, objectivebrightness 118 lx), but for recorded microbiological factors values showed great differences: in the A facility, the mean value for total number of mesophilic bacteria was 3,507 C.F.U./m3 air, while in the B facility, airborne microorganisms had much greater values: 286,327 C.F.U./m3 air. Predominant bacterial species identified werestaphylococci.   Key words: Laboratory animals, microenvironment factors, survey.