Clinical and Pathologic Features of Spontaneous Infection in 9 Rhesus Macaques ().

is a gram-negative bacterium found in the environment and as a commensal in humans and animals. In humans, is one of the most serious nosocomial infections encountered currently and is characterized by liver abscesses, pneumonia, and bacteremia resulting in meningoencephalitis and endophthalmitis. in veterinary medicine is rarely reported in NHP, and recent literature describing this disease is sparse. In our colony of predominantly outdoor-housed rhesus macaques (), is cultured infrequently from healthy animals during routine screening and is even rarer in sick animals. This report summarizes the clinical and postmortem findings associated with this pathogen in 9 rhesus macaques and compares these results with the disease outcomes reported for humans. In these cases, infection was confirmed through culture or PCR testing or both. In our experience, when this bacterium does cause clinical signs, the disease is rapidly progressive and severe. At necropsy of NHP, the findings are strikingly similar to opportunistic -associated syndromes described in humans and include liver abscesses, meningoencephalitis, and endophthalmitis. In addition, many of the affected macaques had similar risk factors to humans that succumb to disease, thus perhaps indicating that rhesus macaques could be a viable model for investigating these syndromes.