Disseminated blastomycosis in a rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta)

An 8-year-old male rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) died following a 6-day illness consisting of progressive depression, anorexia, labored abdominal breathing, coughing, and tachypnea. Gross necropsy findings included severe multifocal (miliary) granulomatous pneumonia, granulomatous splenitis, and multifocal cerebral abscesses. Histologic examination revealed 10-15-microm broad-based budding organisms within pyogranulomatous inflammatory lesions in the lung, tracheobronchial lymph node, brain, spleen, and liver. The distribution of extrapulmonary lesions was intermediate between that described for dogs and that described for humans. These findings were consistent with blastomycosis, which is previously unreported in nonhuman primates.