Fatal herpesvirus tamarinus infection in cotton-topped marmosets (Saguinus oedipus).

Fatal herpesvirus tamarinus infection was observed in cotton-topped marmosets (Saguinus oedipus) imported from South America via the United States on August 26, 1976. In addition to the lesions hitherto reported in herpesvirus tamarinus infection, severe degenerative and necrotic changes of ganglion cells were recognized with intranuclear inclusion bodies in the plexus of the digestive tract and the sympathetic nerves and their ganglions in the abdominal cavity. Inflammatory or regressive changes were also noted in the central nervous system. A large number of basophilic or eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies frequently recognized in multinucleated giant cells were observed in various organs and tissues, and they showed different shapes at the electron microscopic level. Morphological findings indicated that herpesvirus tamarinus infection seemed to be similar to herpes simplex virus infection in man. The findings of the susceptibility of a variety of cell cultures to the virus isolate serologically identified as herpesvirus tamarinus and physicochemical characteristics of the virus isolate were in general agreement with the findings of herpesvirus tamarinus already reported by previous workers.