An adult female Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginianus) was presented for necropsy at the completion of an experimental protocol. The opossum was wild-caught and had been obtained from Northeastern Wildlife (Harrison, ID) ∼1 year before euthanasia. The opossum was singly housed in a 24 inch (W) × 30 inch (D) × 16 inch (H) rabbit cage with a 12:12-h light:dark cycle in a biomedical research facility accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC International). The humidity and temperature were maintained between 30–70% and 68–70 °F, respectively. Animal care technicians fed the opossums a combination of Mazuri omnivore block diet (Purina Mills, St. Louis, MO) and 5001 Rodent Diet (Purina Mills) supplemented with additional foodstuffs including hard-boiled eggs, bananas, apples, Science Diet A/D (Hill's, Topeka, KS), and yogurt. Municipal water was provided ad libitum in crocks and via an automatic watering system.
Because the opossums were wild-caught, their disease status was unknown. Upon arrival, the veterinarian performed a physical examination on each animal, treated the animal if indicated, and allowed it to acclimate for at least one week before any experimental manipulations were done. The opossums were isolated from other animals housed in the research facility and handled using personal protective equipment and proper restraint to avoid exposure of animal handlers to zoonotic diseases. Animal technicians weighed the animals at least monthly. A review of the clinical data for the colony revealed that the majority of the opossums had Physaloptera sp. populations in the stomach and Besnoitia sp. cysts present on multiple serosal and mucosal surfaces. These parasites were living commensally with their hosts and did not appear to cause overt disease in healthy animals.
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