{"id":1186201,"date":"2026-03-11T11:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/?post_type=feature&#038;p=1186201"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:17:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T20:17:24","slug":"do-animals-get-sick-in-labs","status":"publish","type":"feature","link":"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/features\/do-animals-get-sick-in-labs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Health Crisis in Animal Testing Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div contenteditable=\"false\" class=\"wp-block-beyondwords-player\"><div data-beyondwords-player=\"true\" contenteditable=\"false\"><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Another thing experimenters don\u2019t want you to know: The laboratories they trap animals in for testing are hotbeds for disease.<\/strong> If that surprises you, it shouldn\u2019t. For monkeys, rats, rabbits, mice, and other animals, life in a testing facility means the same thing every day\u2014being isolated or crowded together in tiny, barren cages, suffering neglect, and enduring excruciatingly painful procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/monkey-in-cage-fright-night-murray-lab.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"602\" height=\"301\" src=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/monkey-in-cage-fright-night-murray-lab-602x301.png\" alt=\"sad monkey in dark cage\" class=\"wp-image-1044438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/monkey-in-cage-fright-night-murray-lab-602x301.png 602w, https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/monkey-in-cage-fright-night-murray-lab-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/monkey-in-cage-fright-night-murray-lab-768x384.png 768w, https:\/\/www.peta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/monkey-in-cage-fright-night-murray-lab.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This misery ravages their bodies. Laboratory environments cause extreme stress, injuries, disrupted metabolisms, inflammation, and weakened immune systems. And the filth and crowding\u2014well-documented in USDA inspection reports\u2014make everything worse. <strong>Diseases that might barely ripple through animals in nature can erupt into dangerous outbreaks in labs. <\/strong>As if animals in laboratories don\u2019t suffer enough<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In laboratories, fear and sickness fester. <\/strong>Here\u2019s what that looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ringworm:<\/strong> This fungal infection thrives in dirty, crowded conditions. Young or immunocompromised animals often lose patches of hair and develop sore, scaly skin lesions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>Pneumocystis carinii<\/em><\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> This fungus infects the lungs of mice and rats. When their immune systems collapse under stress, animals can suffer from rough fur, labored breathing, bluish skin or lips, and even death.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Murine Respiratory Mycoplasmosis (MRM):<\/strong> It\u2019s one of the most significant pathogens affecting mice and rats in laboratories. Also known as \u201cchronic respiratory disease,\u201d it causes congested breathing in rats, \u201cchattering\u201d in mice (a common sign of severe respiratory distress), weight loss, lethargy, and hunched posture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mouse rotavirus<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> This highly contagious virus spreads easily through contaminated dust, bedding, or other animals. Young mice develop diarrhea, swollen bellies, and in severe cases, life-threatening blockages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>Pasteurella multocida<\/em><\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> This is the most common pathogen among laboratory-confined rabbits. It causes chronic respiratory illness (\u201csnuffles\u201d), pneumonia, abscesses, and ear infections. Rabbits may suffer from thick nasal discharge, constant sneezing, eye infections, and matted fur from wiping their noses. Rabbits\u2019 susceptibility to the illness increases when humans ship them like cargo, expose them to ammonia-filled air, or subject them to sudden temperature changes.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>Salmonella enteritidis<\/em><\/strong><em>:<\/em> This bacterium colonizes the intestines of infected animals, causing diarrhea, weight loss, and sometimes death. It spreads through contaminated food, water, bedding, and even laboratory workers. Stress from experiments or deprivation can make infections more severe.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Clostridium piliforme: <\/strong>This bacterium causes <strong>Tizzer disease<\/strong>, leading to diarrhea, extreme lethargy, ruffled fur, and often rapid death. In tightly packed laboratory rooms, it moves easily through contaminated food or bedding.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Disease isn\u2019t the only danger. The constant buildup of <strong>ammonia<\/strong> from urine and feces in cages burns animals\u2019 eyes, noses, and throats, and exacerbates respiratory infections like pneumonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These illnesses aren\u2019t rare. They\u2019re the inevitable outcomes of confinement, suffering, and squalor in laboratories. <strong>The animal experimentation industry is already riddled with failure<\/strong>. Around 90% of basic research\u2014most of which involves animals\u2014never leads to treatments for humans. Results are even <em>more<\/em> unreliable when animals are sick. Combine that with the biological differences between humans and other animals, and it\u2019s no wonder animal-based research keeps failing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And let\u2019s not forget the psychological toll.<\/strong> When experimenters aren\u2019t restraining them or injecting them with poisons, animals often sit alone, just waiting in panic for the next agonizing procedure. Animals in laboratories often display repetitive, compulsive behaviors, like pacing in circles or even harming themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>The Cure? State-of-the-Art, Animal-Free Research<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, animals get sick in laboratories\u2014but this only scratches the surface. The illnesses above don\u2019t even include the deadly diseases experimenters <em>deliberately<\/em> infect them with, from anthrax to Ebola and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The animal experimentation industry isn\u2019t producing breakthroughs. It\u2019s producing cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\u2019t have to be this way. PETA\u2019s <strong>Modernize Research Now<\/strong> initiative is paving the way toward a future where humans don\u2019t torment and kill animals in useless, wasteful experiments. Cutting-edge, compassionate methods can replace tests on animals with safer, more effective approaches that <em>actually<\/em> advance human health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you live in the U.S., support our plan today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/headlines.peta.org\/research-modernization-new-deal\/\">U.S. Residents: Help Us Modernize research!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more ways you can help spare animals from experiments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peta.org\/action\/easy-ways-help-animals-used-killed-experiments\/\">Easy Ways to Help Animals in Labs<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<input class=\"fooboxshare_post_id\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"1186201\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside the diseases festering behind locked laboratory doors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":400,"featured_media":1044438,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"1","beyondwords_integration_method":"rest-api","beyondwords_project_id":"45142","beyondwords_content_id":"11c88675-8729-4138-9d95-717de574ce1b","beyondwords_preview_token":"6fb38611-ae7c-4307-8b5a-8e2029b9dbde","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_code":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18],"placement":[449,147],"class_list":["post-1186201","feature","type-feature","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-experimentation","placement-features-landing-page","placement-home-page-featured-posts"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Do Animals Get Sick in Labs? 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