Infection Site Dependent Progression of Cutaneous Lesions in African Green Monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) Experimentally Infected with Leishmania aethiopica Promastigotes

Abstract

Studies on experimental infection of Leishmania aethiopica are very limited due to lack of laboratory animal models. It was previously reported that the African green monkey (grivet monkey) could serve as a non–human primate model of L. aethiopica infection. This report provides preliminary data on the development and progression of skin lesions in grivet monkeys when infected with L. aethiopica either in the eye lids or the tip of nose. A total of 22 African green monkeys were inoculated subcutaneously on the eye lid (n=14) or the tip of nose (n=8) with 5 x 10⁶ stationary phase promastigotes of L. aethiopica. No lesions developed on the eye lids. Lesions of various stages of cutaneous leishmaniasis were observed at the tip of nose. The outcome of L. aethiopica infection in African green monkeys and possibly humans could be infection-site dependent. Further studies are needed to examine and understand the immunopathogenetic processes.