Experimental infection of the genital tract of female grivet monkeys by Mycoplasma hominis

Abstract

Mycoplasma hominis, a common inhabitant of the mucosae of the genitourinary tract of human and nonhuman primates, was inoculated directly into the uterine tubes of five laparotomized grivet monkeys. A self-limiting acute salpingitis and parametritis developed within a few days in all animals. Although there were no clinical signs of overt disease, the gross pathology was characterized by pronounced oedematous swelling and hyperaemia of the tubes and parametria. Microscopically, cellular infiltrations of lymphocytes and some polymorphonuclear leukocytes were found in the acute phase in the subserosa and muscularis of the tubes and in the parametria. Granulation tissue and fat necrosis appeared at a later stage in the parametria. The infection was associated with a marked antibody response and a moderate rise of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and leukocyte counts. The capability of M. hominis to produce salpingitis and parametritis in a nonhuman primate would seem to add rather significantly to the available evidence suggesting an etiological role of this organism in inflammatory diseases of the internal female genitals of humans.