Experimental infection of Rhesus monkeys with a human strain of Campylobacter jejuni

Abstract

Young Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were infected orally with a human strain of Campylobacter jejuni. The disease induced was mild, with inappetence and diarrhoea of short duration, but prolonged intermittent excretion of the bacteria in the faeces occurred. Bacteraemia was generally present for 2--3 days and later the organisms localized in the liver and gall bladder. Recovered animals, when challenged with the same strain, showed no clinical symptoms, no bacteraemia, and excreted the organisms in the faeces for only 3 days.