Kessler M J, Rawlins R G
J Med Primatol. 1984;13(6):353-7.
Tetanus is enzootic in the free-ranging rhesus monkey colony on Cayo Santiago. The disease accounts for 25% of all mortalities in the population. The high prevalence of tetanus provided a unique opportunity to study the potential roles of geophagia, wounding, and clinical tetanus infections on the development of naturally acquired tetanus antitoxin in rhesus macaques. Eighty-six unvaccinated monkeys, including six that recovered from tetanus, were serosurveyed using a mouse toxin neutralization test. None of the animals had detectable antitoxin titers (less than 0.001 AU/ml), suggesting that natural immunity to tetanus is either rare or nonexistent in the Cayo Santiago colony.
破伤风在圣地亚哥岛自由放养的恒河猴群体中呈地方流行性。该疾病占该群体所有死亡病例的25%。破伤风的高流行率为研究食土癖、受伤和临床破伤风感染在恒河猴自然获得破伤风抗毒素形成过程中的潜在作用提供了独特机会。使用小鼠毒素中和试验对86只未接种疫苗的猴子进行了血清学调查，其中包括6只从破伤风感染中康复的猴子。没有一只动物检测到抗毒素滴度（低于0.001 AU/ml），这表明在圣地亚哥岛的恒河猴群体中，对破伤风的天然免疫力要么罕见，要么不存在。
