PULMONARY PNEUMOCYSTOSIS IN NONHUMAN-PRIMATES

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 100  (3) , 163-167
Abstract
Pulmonary infection with Pneumocystis carinii was detected in 2 aged owl monkeys (Aotus trivirgatus) and 2 young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). The clinical histories of the owl monkeys were similar and included progressive weight loss, anorexia, failure to thrive and death. One of the owl monkeys had non concurrent disease; the other was experimentally inoculated with Treponema pallidum 44 mo. before death. In both chimpanzees, an underlying myeloproliferative malignant neoplasm was associated with Pneumocystis infection. Pneumocystis organisms were found in alveolar spaces and alveolar lining cells by light microscopy and EM. Pathologic features of these untreated cases and a case in a chimpanzee treated with pentamidine isethionate were similar to those described in humans. This apparently is the 1st report of pulmonary pneumocystosis associated with death in nonhuman primates.

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