Ureaplasmas in the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus): transmission and elimination.

All adult marmosets tested had ureaplasmas in their throats but not in the lower respiratory tract, and rarely in the genital tract. Ureaplasmas persisted in the throat of a marmoset separated from the colony for 44 days. They could not be recovered from the animals for at least nine weeks after a course of minocycline. Airborne reinfection did not occur when these animals were surrounded by, but separate from, infected marmosets. It occurred when the minocycline-treated animals were caged with the infected marmosets or were inoculated. The genital tract was more difficult to infect than the oropharynx.