Ulcerative colitis in apes: A comparison with the human disease.

The pathological changes in the colons of two young gorillas and an adult orang-utan which developed diarrhoea and died, are described. Since no causative agents could be identified and the changes were indistinguishable from the active phase of ulcerative colitis in humans, these cases were considered examples of this disease in apes. Evidence of early healing was found in one case and the suitability of apes and monkeys as possible animal models of the human disease is discussed.