Craig Fletcher, Janet Steele, Christine Bhirdo, Adam Bakowski, Brandy Barnes, Jeremy McNeal, James D. Cox
Sterilization is an important component in lab animal facilities, including cage wash environments. This chapter examines sterilization methods in laboratory animal facilities, and focuses on steam and dry heat methods, which are the most common in cage wash operations. It reviews sterilizers sizes, common options when purchasing a new sterilizer, the required utilities, cycle types, and validations options. Emphasizing the more common features, a comparative analysis of these two methods is provided. The goal is for the reader to have an improved understanding of steam and dry heat sterilization methods and the things to consider when choosing what to buy or what cycle to run with a specific item.