Abstract
While recent changes in treatment have reduced the lethality of idiopathic chronic diarrhea (ICD), this condition remains one of the most common causes of rhesus macaque deaths in non-human primate research centers. We compared the viromes in fecal swabs from 52 animals with late stage ICD and 41 healthy animals. Viral metagenomics targeting virus-like particles was used to identify viruses fecally shed by each animal. Five viruses belonging to the Picornaviridae, one to the Caliciviridae, one to the Parvoviridae, and one to the Adenoviridae families were identified. The fraction of reads matching each viral species was then used to estimate and compare viral loads in ICD cases versus healthy controls. None of the viruses detected in fecal swabs were strongly associated with ICD.
Highlights
We previously described the virome in feces of healthy macaques as well as in those with acute diarrhea or Idiopathic chronic diarrhea (ICD) and reported that shedding of several picornavirus genotypes were weakly associated with ICD while parvoviruses were weakly associated with healthy animals [17]
Fecal swabs were collected during necropsies from 52 macaques suffering from late
Comparing the viruses in rhesus macaques with versus those in healthy those in healthy controls, we were unable to associate any virus with ICD
Summary
Idiopathic chronic diarrhea (ICD) is the leading cause of non-medical research mortality and morbidity in captive colonies of rhesus macaques [1,2] and is defined by chronic or recurring non-bloody diarrhea and microscopic colonic ulcers [2,3,4,5]. ICD cases are typically diagnosed clinically before one year of age. The histopathological evaluations of the ICD cases show surface epithelium attenuation, goblet cell depletion and crypt branching and microscopic ulcers [6]. The lamina propria is filled with infiltrates including lymphocytes and plasma cells [5,6]. Rhesus macaques’ enterocolitis is a TH 1 biased immune response with concurrent gut microbial dysbiosis [7,8,9,10]
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