In vitro Characteristics of a Poxvirus isolated from Rhesus Monkeys

PRIMATES are susceptible to poxviruses of the variola–vaccinia–monkeypox group and to Yaba poxvirus. When an epidemic of skin lesions with the clinical characteristics of vaccinia appeared in rhesus monkeys ( Macaca mulatta ), Japanese macaques ( Macaca fuscata ) and animal personnel in our colony, monkeypox was suspected. Electron micrographs of biopsied skin lesions showed particles resembling poxvirus 1,2 . The agent, subsequently isolated in tissue cultures, is, however, morphologically and serologically distinct from the vaccinia group, and the histopathology is totally different from that of Yaba virus. We therefore think that this agent, temporarily called ‘1211’, is a new unclassified poxvirus which is infectious for primates and may be the same as that recently reported from Texas 2 .