S. S. KALTER 
969 
This disease is not to be confused with the many 
I hemorrhagic diseases occurring in man and 
other animals due to a multitude of different 
agents. Mortality is extremely high in suscep- 
tible animals but the high degree of species se- 
lectivity is unexplainable at this time. Other 
species of monkeys and apes do not have anti- 
body to SHF and this cannot, therefore, explain 
their resistance. 
HerpesviriLses (other than H. simiae) — sim- 
ian herpesviruses distinct from H. simiae are 
now recognized and these, in species other than 
the original host, produce a diversity of clinical 
diseases. It is now well established that herpes- 
viruses in their natural hosts usually produce 
inapparent or latent infections rather than overt 
I disease. Thus, H. tamariniis*^^-^^ a herpesvirus 
j of squirrel monkeys referred to at times as mar- 
I moset herpes virus, or H. platyrrhinae, is highly 
lethal for the owl monkey and marmoset. Stud- 
ies with other simian species will undoubtedly 
demonstrate a wider spectrum of susceptibilities 
to this virus. The spider monkey virus (SMV) 
. of Lennette produced characteristic lesions in 
its original host: herpetic lesions on lips, nose, 
! gums, tongue, palate and brain. With death re- 
sulting, this appears to be contrary to usual 
events for a natural host. In explanation, two 
possibilities come to mind: 1) the spider mon- 
key may not be the original host although the 
evidence (increase in number of seropositive 
spider monkeys with age) suggests this, and 2) 
as in man, herpesviruses do occasionally pro- 
duce fatal disease in their original host, al- 
though, admittedly this is rare. 
The studies of Melendez and his cowork- 
gj.g 47-52 pertaining to simian herpesviruses of 
New World monkeys may indeed prove to be a 
major contribution. These investigators have 
now isolated a number of herpesviruses from 
such South American monkeys as the squirrel 
(H. saimiri), spider (H. ateles), marmoset (H. 
saguinus), owl (H. actus) and possibly others. 
Several of these viruses have been shown to 
produce a lymphoproliferative disease in spe- 
cies of monkeys other than the original host. 
These findings are the first record of primate 
cancer-producing viruses and extend the series 
! of oncogenic viruses closer to man. Of addi- 
tional importance is the recognition that the 
carrier state may develop in these animals sim- 
ilar to that known to occur in man.^^ Thus, H. 
tamarinus has been found to produce carriers 
in the marmoset in spite of the occurrence of a 
high mortality as a result of herpesvirus infec- 
tions. 
Two other herpesviruses reported as produc- 
ing disease have been recovered from African 
monkeys : Liverpool vervet monkey virus and 
patas monkey virus.^^ Probably these viruses 
are the same but more studies are needed. The 
LVV produces a severe and distinctive disease in 
vervet monkeys and it would appear that this 
species is not the natural host for this agent. 
The patas agent produces clinical and pathologic 
responses in this monkey similar to that de- 
scribed for the vervet agent : skin rash on face, 
trunk, proximal areas of the limbs. Rash begins 
as macules and changes to papules and then to 
vesicles. Death occurs within 48 hours after 
appearance of the rash. 
Foamy viruses — this virus group is men- 
tioned at this time because of their nuisance 
value rather than known pathogenicity. Their 
presence in simian tissues, at times 100% of 
the kidney cell preparations contain these vi- 
ruses, makes them unsuitable for vaccine prep- 
aration or experimental work. Appropriate 
classification of the agents in this group is not 
clear and many investigators consider them 
along with the myxoviruses or as paramyxo- 
viruses or even pseudomyxoviruses. Many of 
their biologic characteristics are similar to the 
myxoviruses but not to the extent of hemag- 
glutinating erythrocytes. The seven current 
prototypes have been recovered from kidneys of 
many different species of monkeys and apes 
(see Table 2). Their presence appears to be 
more of economic concern than of disease pro- 
duction. 
Myxoviruses — under the simian myxoviruses 
two that are currently included therein, i.e. 
SV5 and SV41, have not been discussed. SV5 
is probably not a simian virus although ad- 
mittedly it is very frequently recovered and is 
a nuisance for those involved in monkey tissue 
culture work. SV41 is found so infrequently 
that it is not considered to be of major conse- 
quence. This virus does produce some CNS 
pathology and death in monkeys after experi- 
