Health monitoring and disease prevention in laboratory animal colonies are critical for both animal welfare and scientific validity, as disease causes suffering and confounds experimental results.
Laboratory animal disease represents a dual welfare and scientific crisis. Infected animals experience illness-related suffering that may be undetected for weeks during subclinical phases. Overt disease causes acute suffering from symptoms including diarrhea, respiratory distress, and neurological signs. Colony depopulation in response to outbreaks kills large numbers of animals whose deaths are not counted in research use statistics. Subclinical infections confound experimental results by introducing uncontrolled physiological variables, meaning that research animals may suffer and die for results that cannot be replicated or trusted. Rigorous health monitoring, barrier maintenance, and transparent reporting of colony health status are essential welfare and scientific integrity requirements.