Yew poisoning of olive baboons (Papio anubis) in captivity: laboratory diagnosis.

OBJECTIVES: Toxic effects of the yew have been known since ancient times. Yew toxicity is due to the content of cyanogenic glycosides and a mixture of alkaloids known as taxines. Taxine B is probably responsible for the most part of adverse effects in poisoned organisms. This particular taxoid is common in body fluids of the yew-poisoned. The present study is engaged with laboratory examination to confirm substances that lead to fatality of a pair of olive baboons (Papio anubis) following ingestion of yew seeds. When both cage mates (male and female) died suddenly, poisoning was suspected because many berries had fallen into the cage from a nearby fruiting yew tree (Taxus baccata) during the windy night before. METHODS: The analysis was performed using electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A flow injection analysis/mass spectrometry setting was prepared for this purpose. RESULTS: The above mentioned mass spectrometry analysis of taxoids confirmed poisoning by taxanes. The presence of taxin B/isotaxin B was confirmed in all investigated samples. Apparently in urine and bile there were concentrations ranging 150-220 ng.mL-1 and in blood serum concentrations 25-30 ng.mL-1. CONCLUSION: It follows from the results obtained that we confirmed that baboons were deadly intoxicated by yew fruits.

Haemogram and Serum Biochemical Values of Four Indigenous Species of Monkeys in South West Nigeria.

Haematological and serum biochemical values are useful guides and biomarkers in health and diseases for reaching a diagnosis, estimating disease prognosis and monitoring treatment progress, in mammals. Reference ranges for some parameters differ among species of mammals and between sexes within a species. There is dearth of information on standard reference value for blood parameters for Nigerian indigenous monkeys. Whole blood and serum samples obtained from 50 apparently healthy adult monkeys in both captivity and from the wild in southwest Nigeria were subjected to haematology and serum biochemistry to obtain preliminary reference values for haematological and serum biochemical analytes for Cercocebus sebaeus (Green monkey), Cercopithecus mona (Mona monkey), Erythrocebus patas (Patas monkey) and Papio anubis (Anubis baboon). Numerical data were summarized as mean and standard deviation and subjected to statistical analysis; Student t test and analysis of variance, to compare values of blood parameters obtained between species and gender. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. The hematocrit of male animals were significantly higher than that of females (P=0.01) in all the 4 species studied but there was no significant difference in other blood parameters such as total white blood cell and the differential counts, platelet count, serum aspartate transferase, alanine transferase, alkaline phosphatase, total plasma protein, albumin, and globulin concentrations between the sexes. Generally, there was no significant difference between total white blood cell and the differential counts, hematocrit, red cell count, haemoglobin concentration, platelet count, serum aspartate transferase, alanine transferase, alkaline phosphatase, total plasma protein, albumin, and globulin concentrations among the monkey species.

Enzootic Circulation of Chikungunya Virus in East Africa: Serological Evidence in Non-human Kenyan Primates.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a globally emerging pathogen causing debilitating arthralgia and fever in humans. First identified in Tanzania (1953), this mosquito-borne alphavirus received little further attention until a 2004 re-emergence in Kenya from an unknown source. This outbreak subsequently spread to the Indian Ocean, with adaptation for transmission by a new urban vector. Under the hypothesis that sylvatic progenitor cycles of CHIKV exist in Kenya (as reported in West Africa, between non-human primates (NHPs) and arboreal Aedes spp. mosquitoes), we pursued evidence of enzootic transmission and human spillover events. We initially screened 252 archived NHP sera from Kenya using plaque reduction neutralization tests. Given an overall CHIKV seroprevalence of 13.1% (marginally higher in western Kenya), we sought more recent NHP samples during 2014 from sites in Kakamega County, sampling wild blue monkeys, olive baboons, and red-tailed monkeys (N = 33). We also sampled 34 yellow baboons near Kwale, coastal Kenya. Overall, CHIKV seropositivity in 2014 was 13.4% (9/67). Antibodies reactive against closely related o'nyong-nyong virus (ONNV) occurred; however, neutralization titers were too low to conclude ONNV exposure. Seroprevalence for the flavivirus dengue was also detected (28%), mostly near Kwale, suggesting possible spillback from humans to baboons. CHIKV antibodies in some juvenile and subadult NHPs suggested recent circulation. We conclude that CHIKV is circulating in western Kenya, despite the 2004 human outbreaks only being reported coastally. Further work to understand the enzootic ecology of CHIKV in east Africa is needed to identify sites of human spillover contact where urban transmission may be initiated.

The detection limits for estimates of infection intensity in schistosomiasis mansoni established by a study in non-human primates.

In human schistosomiasis mansoni, it is impossible to directly determine worm burden and hence infection intensity, so surrogates must be used. Studies on non-human primates revealed a linear relationship between worm burden and three surrogates, faecal egg output, circulating anodic and circulating cathodic antigens. By regression, the thresholds of detection were determined as 40, 24 and 47 worms, respectively. These observations provide a quantitative basis for the contention that low intensity infections in humans are being missed. The significance for estimates of disease prevalence, evaluation of the effects of chemotherapy and the implementation of vaccine trials is emphasised.

The timed-pregnant baboon animal model can be used for determining the role of soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1 and 2 during development.

BACKGROUND: During pregnancy, mechanisms that allow for regulation of continuous fetal and placental vasculogenesis with prevention of maternal neo-vascularization remain elusive. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) biological system has a key role during vasculogenesis. The aims of this study were to validate a bioassay for soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1 and 2 (sVEGFR-1 and sVEGFR-2) in baboon plasma and to determine the maternal and fetal plasma concentration of these receptors at the end of the baboon pregnancy. METHODS: Maternal peripheral blood samples were obtained from eight baboons (Papio anubis) prior to elective cesarean section and from the umbilical cord after the fetuses were delivered. Spike and recovery experiments at various concentrations in pooled baboon maternal plasma were used to validate a human quantitative sandwich immunoassay for sVEGFR-1 and -2. Concentrations of sVEGFR-1 and -2 were then determined in maternal and fetal plasma samples. RESULTS: No significant correlations were observed between sVEGFR-1 or -2 concentrations in maternal and fetal circulations. The concentration of sVEGFR-1 was at least 30 times greater and that of sVEGFR-2 approximately two times greater, in maternal than in cord plasma (both P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that baboons can be used to study the regulation of vasculogenesis during pregnancy.