Experimental kuru in the rhesus monkey. A clinical study.

Serial neurologic examinations of six rhesus monkeys inoculated with a strain of kuru revealed complex clinical signs falling into two distinct syndromes. Experimental kuru in the rhesus monkey is different from the disease in man and to a lesser extent in the chimpanzee. Two factors are proposed to account for these observations: modification of the strain, and specific host characteristics.

Human spongiform encephalopathies in marmoset monkeys (Saguinus sp.).

Brain homogenates (10% w/v) from five of seven kuru patients inoculated intracerebrally (i.c., 0.1 ml) into marmosets (Saguinus sp.) induced a rapidly progressive CNS disease 26, 31, 36, 76 and 94 months postinoculation. Serial marmoset passages of kuru were accomplished by i.c. inoculation of neonatal marmosets with brain homogenates from marmosets with experimentally induced kuru. The incubation periods ranged from 1.5 to 11 months (average 7.3) in 19 animals, 20-25 months in four animals and greater than 26 months in two animals. Symptoms and brain lesions of the induced disease were compatible with kuru as observed in humans and other nonhuman primates. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has been induced by i.c. inoculation of marmosets with brain homogenates from two of four human CJD patients with incubation periods of 43 and 54 months and is in serial passage.

Experimental kuru in the gibbon and sooty mangabey and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the pigtailed macaque. With a summary of the host range of the subacute spongiform virus encephalopathies.

The experimental host range for the slow virus infections causing subacute spongiform virus encephalopathies is enlarged in primates to include the gibbon for kuru, the pigtailed macaque for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and the sooty mangabey for both diseases. The report is based on neuropathological evidence of the diseases in animals with preclinical lesions. A table lists all the species to which the subacute spongiform virus encephalopathies have been transmitted.

Experimental subacute spongiform virus encephalopathies in primates and other laboratory animals.

The host range of subacute spongiform virus encephalopathies is described. The asymptomatic incubation period and the duration of the illnesses in various species of animal hosts is discussed along with information on additional species of Old World and New World monkeys and the domestic cat, which have been shown to be susceptible to subacute spongiform virus encephalopathies.

Transmission of experimental kuru to the spider monkey (Ateles geoffreyi).

Clinical signs and pathological changes characteristic of kuru in man and experimental kuru in chimpanzees were observed in two spider monkeys, Ateles geoffreyi, after inoculation with brain tissue from a kuru-affected chimpanzee. The incubation period for one of the monkeys was 23 months, and 26 months for the other.