Extraintestinal campylobacteriosis in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Two cases of clinical disease associated with extraintestinal Campylobacter infection were recently encountered in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). The first case was that of a 3-y-old, male, rhesus macaque experimentally infected with SIV, who presented with abdominal pain and a midabdominal mass and was euthanized. Pathology findings included an abscess within the median liver lobe, fibrinopurulent peritonitis, and intestinal serositis with isolation of Campylobacter fetus from the blood, liver, and the hepatic abscess. The second case was that of a 1-mo-old, female, rhesus macaque who died with no apparent history of illness. Gross pathology findings included thin body condition and diarrheic staining of the perineum; histologically, acute multifocal hepatitis with intralesional bacteria was noted. Campylobacter coli was isolated from the liver and colon. Extraintestinal Campylobacter infection is uncommon in humans, usually occurring in immunocompromised subjects and most commonly manifesting as bacteremia. Extraintestinal Campylobacter infections in animals are rare but have been associated with bacteremia and cholecystitis. The macaques presented here were either immunocompromised due to SIV infection (case 1) or more vulnerable due to young age (case 2). These factors likely contributed to the extraintestinal spread of Campylobacter.