TRANSMISSION OF CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE FROM MAN TO SQUIRREL MONKEY

Brain material from a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was inoculated intracerebrally into four squirrel monkeys. Subsequently three out of the four inoculated monkeys developed clinical signs and a syndrome similar to the human disease. The incubation period from inoculation until the appearance of first signs varied from 20 to 23 months. Histological examination of the brains of the above monkeys revealed severe spongy degeneration and astrogliosis, lesions that resembled those seen in the brain of the patient. The findings not only confirm the fact that Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is transmissible, but also draw attention to the usefulness of the squirrel monkey, a small and easily handled New World monkey, as a laboratory animal for the transmission of human subacute spongiform encephalopathies.