Improvement of Vivarium Biodecontamination through Data-acquisition Systems and Automation.

Biodecontamination is important for eliminating pathogens at research animal facilities, thereby preventing contamination within barrier systems. We enhanced our facility's standard biodecontamination method to replace the traditional foggers, and the new system was used effectively after creating bypass ducts in HVAC units so that individual rooms could be isolated. The entire system was controlled by inhouse-developed supervisory control and data-acquisition software that supported multiple cycles of decontamination by equipment, which had different decontamination capacities, operated in parallel, and used different agents, including H2O2 vapor and ClO2 gas.