West Nile virus infection in nonhuman primate breeding colony, concurrent with human epidemic, southern Louisiana.
During the summer of 2002, an epidemic of West Nile meningoencephalitis occurred in southern Louisiana. Following the outbreak, blood samples were collected from 1,692 captive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), pigtail macaques (M. nemestrina), and baboons (Papio spp.) that were permanently housed outdoors at a nonhuman primate breeding facility in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. The serum samples were examined for antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV). Overall, 36% of the captive nonhuman primates had WNV antibodies; comparison of these samples with banked serum samples from previous blood collections indicated that the animals were infected subclinically from February to August 2002. WNV activity was demonstrated in surveillance at the nonhuman primate-breeding colony and in the neighboring community during this same period. The high infection rate in this captive nonhuman primate population illustrates the intensity of WNV transmission that can occur silently in nature among other susceptible vertebrates during epidemic periods.
Ratterree
Marion S
MS
Tulane National Primate Research Center, Covington, Louisiana, USA.
da Rosa
Amelia P A Travassos
AP
Bohm
Rudolf P
RP
Cogswell
Frank B
FB
Phillippi
Kathrine M
KM
Caillouet
Kevin
K
Schwanberger
Shelle
S
Shope
Robert E
RE
Tesh
Robert B
RB
D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary*; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008254:Macaca nemestrina; D010215:Papio; D015995:Prevalence; D018419:Primate Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity
D000914:Antibodies, Viral