title: Five spontaneous deaths associated with Clostridium difficile in a colony of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus).
abstract: Clostridium difficile toxin was detected in the feces of five cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) that died spontaneously over a period of 10 weeks. Deaths occurred subsequent to antibiotic therapy for infectious diarrhea associated with Campylobacter spp. Relevant clinical signs of disease prior to death included weight loss, watery diarrhea, hematochezia, weakness, and sudden collapse. On histologic examination of the colon at necropsy, pseudomembranous colitis was evident in two cases, a lesion consistent with C. difficile lesions in humans. This finding prompted submission of feces for C. difficile toxin analysis from these five cases. Four of the tamarins were from a single room, and the fifth was housed nearby. The proximity of the cases raises the possibility of environmental contamination by resistant C. difficile spores or fecal spread of the organism as reported in hospitals, day-care centers, and nurseries. The relative importance of C. difficile and its potential role as an unrecognized cause of enteric disease secondary to antibiotic therapy in nonhuman primates is discussed.
authors.affiliation: New England Regional Primate Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Southborough, MA 01772, USA.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rolland
authors.forename: L V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Chalifoux
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Snook
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ausman
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary*; D003106:Colon / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D004761:Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000662:veterinary; D015643:Erythromycin Ethylsuccinate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008992:Monkey Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality*; D009643:Norfloxacin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012452:Saguinus / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D015643:Erythromycin Ethylsuccinate; D009643:Norfloxacin