Herpesvirus simiae infection in Macaca radiata

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Abstract
Forty of 79 bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) housed in an outdoor structure became infected with a respiratory disease, and 16 died. The most conspicuous lesions were those of hemorrhagic interstitial lobar pneumonia and focal hepatic necrosis with monocytic infiltration and eosinophilic intranuclear inclusions. A virus, in high titer, was obtained from the lung and liver of two fatal cases (107 TCID50 × gram of tissue) by inoculating tissue homogenates in primary vervet monkey kidney, BSC‐1, and MA104 cell cultures. The cytopathic effect was identical with that induced by Herpesvirus simiae in the same cell cultures. Similar cellular changes were seen in LLC‐MK2 cell cultures. Infected cells contained eosinophilic intranuclear inclusions, and intranuclear herpes‐like virus particles were seen by electron microscopy. The virus could not be passed serially in mice by the intracerebral route of inoculation. Bonnet monkeys (herpes antibody‐free), inoculated intravenously with the virus, developed vesicular lesions on the arms, face, hands, and soles of the feet; and the virus was recovered from the vesicular fluid. All lesions disappeared within three weeks after inoculation, and the animals later recovered. On the basis of host range, cytopathic effect, electron microscopy, mouse susceptibility, and the results of neutralization tests in tissue cultures, the virus was identified as Herpesvirus simiae.