1 Tuberculosis in Nonhuman Primates - the disease 2 3 K. Mätz-Rensing and F.-J. Kaup 4 {German Primate Centre, Göttingen, Germany} 5 Correspondence to: K. Mätz-Rensing (
[email protected]) 6 7 1 Introduction 8 Simian tuberculosis is one of the most important bacterial diseases of nonhuman primates 9 because of its ubiquitous and insidious nature and its ability to spread rapidly. Outbreaks of 10 tuberculosis have been reported in nonhuman primate colonies almost as long as primates 11 have been used as experimental animals or kept in zoological gardens. The tuberculous 12 monkey is a health hazard especially to other monkeys in the group, but (re)transmission of 13 the infection to humans has been reported as well. Significant progress has been made in 14 reducing the incidence of tuberculosis in captive nonhuman primates. In spite of reasonable 15 precautions, outbreaks continue to occur and tuberculosis remains a serious threat to the 16 health of nonhuman primates and their caretakers. Outbreaks have severe economic 17 consequences due to animal losses, disruption of research and costs related to disease control. 18 Therefore, persons working with nonhuman primates should be familiar with the disease and 19 preventive measurements. 20 21 2 The agent 22 Tuberculosis and mycobacteriosis are fatal diseases of New and Old World monkeys causing 23 high morbidity and mortality (Bennett et al., 1998; Brack, 1987). Simian tuberculosis is a 24 disease most often contracted from humans. Most of the clinical cases are induced by 25 Mycobacterium (M.) tuberculosis, but the incidence of M. bovis infections is increasing (Keet 26 et al., 1996; Stetter et al., 1995; Thorel et al., 1998; Zumpe et al., 1980).