Bacterial and mycoplasma flora of a laboratory colony of the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

Abstract

A survey was carried out to characterise the bacterial and mycoplasma flora of a closed colony of marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. Bordetella bronchiseptica and Staphylococcus aureus were the only potential bacterial pathogens isolated from the colony; Candida albicans was also identified. S aureus and C albicans were the only organisms which were associated with macroscopic lesions or overt disease. Post mortem examination of the animals proved only reliable method of establishing the presence of some bacterial species in the colony, eg, B bronchiseptica and of obtaining a reliable estimate of the incidence of the various organisms within the colony. The marmosets were all infected with ureaplasmas in the upper respiratory tract. Mycoplasma salivarium was isolated from this site in several animals. There was no evidence to indicate that cross-infection had occurred between the animal technicians and the marmosets, except in one possible case of candidiasis.

Antibiotic resistance inStaphylococci isolated from the vaginas of captive femaleLeontopithecus (Callitrichidae–Primates)

“…CoPS have been described in cases of clinical vaginitis and metritis in rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys [Doyle et al, 1991]. S. aureus is the most commonly reported species, and has been described in acute external otitis in a marmoset [Hill et al, 1978], in suppurative arthritis in an infant orangutan [Hoopes et al, 1978], and in postoperative wound infections [Blouse et al, 1976], acute pyometra [Lang & Benjamin, 1969], and intrauterine infections [Swindle et al, 1982] in rhesus monkeys. S. saprophyticus is known to be a common cause of urinary tract infection in women and has been reported as a cause of acute infection of both the lower and upper urinary tracts in grivet monkeys, leading to cystitis, ureteritis, and pyelonephritis [Mardh et al, 1980].…”

“…The predominance of CoNS was an expected finding, since previous reports on other nonhuman primates revealed that flora to be very similar to that found in human vaginas. S. epidermidis has been recovered from the vaginas of baboons [Skangalis et al, 1979], captive howler monkeys [Claver et al, 1984], rhesus monkeys [Doyle et al, 1991], and both live and postmortem marmosets [Hill et al, 1978]. …”

An outbreak of Bordetella bronchiseptica pneumonia in a colony of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

“…The organism is present in many marmoset colonies, but its role in respiratory disease is 'uncertain and there are no record,S in the literature of outbreaks of this type. Hill et al (1978) isolated B. bronchiseptica from the pharynx of 4/11 dead marmosets from a conventional colony, but failed to recover it from the nasopharynx of any of 26 live adults. Our experience from routine nasopharyngeal swabs from both marmosets and guineapigs of all ages suggests that when the organism is endemic it is readily isolated from young animals but not often from adults.…”

“…is frequently isolated from the upper respiratory tract of primates, particularly those suffering from respiratory disease (Good & May, 1970;Hill, Turton & Bleby, 1978). Graves (1968) reported a case of pneumonia in an African green monkey and subsequently monitored the agglutinating antibody response in the sera of in-contact monkeys (Graves, 1970 necropsy and described the histopathology of the lung lesions.…”

Characterization of Mycoplasma Strains Isolated from House Musk Shrews (<I>Suncus murinus</I>) and Their Infectivity in Mice and Rats

“…Mycoplasmas are widely distributed in nature and have been isolated from many laboratory animal species including nonhuman primates, dogs, mice and rats [3,8,14,201. Moreover, they frequently produce chronic respiratory disease, arthritis and genital tract infections in these animal species.…”