TY - JOUR AU - Ratterree, Marion AU - Travassos da Rosa, Amelia P.A. AU - Bohm, Rudolf AU - Cogswell, Frank AU - Phillippi, Kathrine AU - Caillouet, Kevin AU - Schwanberger, Shelle AU - Shope, Robert AU - Tesh, Robert T1 - West Nile Virus Infection in Nonhuman Primate Breeding Colony, Concurrent with Human Epidemic, Southern Louisiana T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2003 VL - 9 IS - 11 SP - 1388 SN - 1080-6059 AB - During the summer of 2002, an epidemic of West Nile meningoencephalitis occurred in southern Louisiana. Following the outbreak, blood samples were collected from 1,692 captive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), pigtail macaques (M. nemestrina), and baboons (Papio spp.) that were permanently housed outdoors at a nonhuman primate breeding facility in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. The serum samples were examined for antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV). Overall, 36% of the captive nonhuman primates had WNV antibodies; comparison of these samples with banked serum samples from previous blood collections indicated that the animals were infected subclinically from February to August 2002. WNV activity was demonstrated in surveillance at the nonhuman primate-breeding colony and in the neighboring community during this same period. The high infection rate in this captive nonhuman primate population illustrates the intensity of WNV transmission that can occur silently in nature among other susceptible vertebrates during epidemic periods. KW - West Nile virus KW - zoonosis KW - virus infection KW - epidemiology KW - nonhuman primates KW - arbovirus KW - vector-borne diseases KW - animal health KW - United States KW - Louisiana DO - 10.3201/eid0911.030226 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/11/03-0226_article ER - End of Reference