Effect of various biological factors on spontaneous marmoset and tamarin colitis. A retrospective histopathologic study.

Histological sections of colons from 69 tamarins (46 Saguinus oedipus and 23 Saguinus fuscicollis illigeri) and 27 marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) that died between 1979 and 1984 were examined for colitis. Evaluated biological factors were species, age at death, source of animals, manner of death, presence of colon cancer, and time after importation. Most normal colons were found in young animals (dead at less than 1 years of age). Nearly all (approximately 96%) animals had colitis; 70-80% of most groups were graded as chronic colitis. Usually, one grade adequately described the condition of the entire colon. The strongest observed correlation of factors (P less than 0.05) was between acute colitis and colon cancer in S. oedipus. A higher percentage of S. oedipus had acute colitis than did the other two species. When colitis incidence data were adjusted for S. oedipus with colon cancer, there were no observed species differences between colons of colony-born and imported animals nor between those that died naturally and those that were euthanized. In an additional group of 18 S. oedipus that were imported in 1975, acute colitis was found in 60% of those dying immediately after importation (less than 1 year of colony age) and those that survived greater than 3 years. At this time, no causative agent has been identified in marmoset colitis.