The present report deals with the incidence of diarrheal cases among imported wild cynomolgus monkeys (
Macaca fascicularis) during the quarantine period in our non-human primates facility and the therapeutic effects of two antibiotics on diarrhea. The results obtained were as follows:
1. Five hundred and twenty (49.3 %) out of 1, 055 monkeys, imported to N. I. H. from Southeast Asian countries from 1971 through 1972, had diarrhea for more than 1 day during the quarantine period of 7-11 weeks. In 90% of the 520 cases, diarrhea occurred within 4 weeks after arrival. The highest incidence of diarrhea was observed for the first one week.
2. With respect to the habitats of monkeys examined, the incidence of diarrhea was highest in monkeys from the Philippines, followed by monkeys from Malaysia and then from Indonesia.
3. The seasonal variation of the diarrheal incidence was, more or less, noticeable. Namely, the incidences both in summer and in fall were higher than those in spring and winter.
4. Rifampicin (RFP) showed remarkable therapeutic effects on bacillary dysentery in cynomolgus monkeys, when dysenteric cases were orally administered with daily dose of 200 mg of RFP per animal for three consecutive days.
However, in the diarrheal cases without shigella infection, any satisfactory therapeutic effect was not obtained with the oral administration of RFP.
5. Although chloramphenicol (CM) was effective against bacillary dysenteric cases infected with CM-sensitive shigella, sometimes the excretion of CM-resistant shigella was noted and stool properties were not improved in such cases.
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