Seroprevalence of viral infections in captive rhesus and cynomolgus macaques

Abstract

Abstract. Macaques serve as important animal models for biomedical research. Viral infection of macaques can compromise animal health as well as the results of biomedical research, and infected animals constitute an occupational health risk. Therefore, monitoring macaque colonies for viral infection is an important task. We used a commercial chip-based assay to analyze sera of 231 macaques for the presence of antibody responses against nine animal and human viruses. We report high seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV), lymphocryptovirus (LCV), rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV) and simian foamy virus (SFV) antibodies in all age groups. In contrast, antibodies against simian retrovirus type D (SRV/D) and simian T cell leukemia virus (STLV) were detected only in 5 % and 10 % of animals, respectively, and were only found in adult or aged animals. Moreover, none of the animals had antibodies against herpes B virus (BV), in keeping with the results of in-house tests previously used for screening. Finally, an increased seroprevalence of measles virus antibodies in animals with extensive exposure to multiple humans for extended periods of time was observed. However, most of these animals were obtained from external sources, and a lack of information on the measles antibody status of the animals at the time of arrival precluded drawing reliable conclusions from the data. In sum, we show, that in the colony studied, CMV, LCV, RRV and SFV infection was ubiquitous and likely acquired early in life while SRV/D and STLV infection was rare and likely acquired during adulthood.

Pathologic characteristics of infectious diseases in macaque monkeys used in biomedical and toxicologic studies

“…HBV infection can be fatal in humans 34 . To avoid fatal infection from handlers and potential effects on the experiments, HBV seronegative animals are usually used 35 . However, to ensure handler protection, we should be aware that serological testing for antibodies or PCR testing for the virus usually shows negative results in latently infected animals without viremia.…”

Common and Not-So-Common Pathologic Findings of the Gastrointestinal Tract of Rhesus and Cynomolgus Macaques

“…107 Cytomegalovirus is endemic in both wild and captive macaques, where 92% of rhesus macaques become infected by 1 year of age and seroprevalence in adult rhesus and cynomolgus macaques is 90% to 100%. [108][109][110] Infection is generally asymptomatic in immunocompetent animals but can result in illness and death in macaques concurrently infected with SIV. [107][108][109] Transmission is horizontal with intermittent virus shedding in blood, saliva, milk, urine, and semen.…”

Comparison of a Genotype 1 and a Genotype 2 Macaque Foamy Virus env Gene Indicates Distinct Infectivity and Cell-Cell Fusion but Similar Tropism and Restriction of Cell Entry by Interferon-Induced Transmembrane Proteins

“…We next tested whether the two Env proteins really belonged to different serological groups and whether they were resistant to neutralization by sera that neutralize the respective other genotype. We obtained 18 rhesus macaque sera, two of them negative for foamy virus according to prior serological testing [ 47 ]. Fifteen sera neutralized ST1 ( Figure 4 A,C) and three sera neutralized ST2 ( Figure 4 B,D).…”