Our facility, accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International, houses over 200 cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The animals are obtained from a commercial supplier (Covance, Alice, TX) and housed in stainless steel cages equipped with perches; they are housed in pairs whenever possible. Our animals are housed under conditions consistent with the recommendations of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals1 and the Animal Welfare Act and Regulations2. An automated monitoring system maintains a temperature of 72 °F (± 2 °F), a relative humidity of 60% (± 10%), a 12-h:12-h light:dark cycle and a ventilation rate of 10–15 air changes per h in the rooms that house nonhuman primates (NHPs). The animals are provided with filtered, ultraviolet-sterilized, reverse-osmosis drinking water ad libitum from an automatic watering system and are fed a standard NHP diet (2050 Teklad Global 20% Protein Primate Diet; Harlan Laboratories, Frederick, MD) supplemented with fresh fruits and vegetables and commercially available NHP treats three times per week. The animals also receive numerous enrichment items including toys, mirrors, challenger balls, wood branches and foraging boards, as well as exposure to music and videos.
In the spring of 2009, approximately 10% of the primates in our colony developed bloody nasal discharge and sneezing. For the first three animals that presented with this condition, we carried out bacterial culture and sensitivity analyses of swab samples from the nasal passages. The findings included Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus non-aureus and Enterococcus spp. All organisms identified were susceptible to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid antibiotic. These animals were treated with 13.75 mg per kg body weight of amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (Clavamox; Pfizer Animal Health, New York, NY) orally twice per d for 7 d, and the clinical signs resolved. This became our standard protocol for treating other NHPs that presented with bloody nasal discharge.
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