The owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus) as an animal model for viral diseases and oncologic studies.

The owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus) has been shown to be an excellent model for studies of oncogenic and non-oncogenic viruses. Studies at this institution have been primarily concerned with Herpesvirus saimiri, the Epstein-Barr virus, H tamarinus, and H simplex. These studies have shown that H saimiri is oncogenic when inoculated into primates, that the malignancy induced by H saimiri can be naturally transmitted from the squirrel monkey to the owl monkey, that in vitro pathogenicity of H saimiri can be modified by passing the virus in a nonpermissive cellular host, that the owl monkey is a useful model for studying the oncogenicity of the Epstein-Barr virus, and the fatal disease induced in owl monkeys by H tamarinus and H simplex can be prevented by vaccination with nonpathogenic variants of these viruses.