CATHETER-TRACT INFECTIONS IN RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA-MULATTA) WITH INDWELLING INTRAVENOUS CATHETERS

Development of catheter-tract infections in experimental animals can h ave devastating consequences on animal health and the functional lifes pan of surgical implants. To measure the incidence of catheter-tract i nfections in animals with exteriorized intravenous catheters in this f acility and assess the effects of these infections on mean catheter li fespan, health records of 31 Macaca mulatta with catheters were review ed, Records spanned the interval of January 1, 1996 through October 1, 1997, Catheter tract infections in 16 of 53 (30.2%) monkeys with cath eters were diagnosed based on a combination of clinical signs of infec tion and results of bacterial culture. Segmental catheter-tract infect ions reduced mean catheter lifespan to 147 days, compared with 354 day s for uninfected catheters, Exit-wound, local tunnel, and surgical-sit e infections did not significantly reduce catheter Lifespan. Bacterial culture reports documented 31 isolates; 41.9% (13 of 31) were coagula se-negative staphylococci, and 22.6% (7 of 31) were Staphylococcus aur eus, Of 20 isolates tested, 15 (75%) were resistant to methicillin/oxa cillin in vitro. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of methicillin-r esistant and methicillin-susceptible isolates indicated that, compared with methicillin-sensitive isolates, methicillin-resistant isolates h ad a pattern of multiple antibiotic resistance. Catheter-tract infecti ons were common in this colony of rhesus macaques, and clinically seve re infections caused a drastic reduction in catheter lifespan. Approxi mately half (48%) the bacterial isolates mere methicillin-resistant gr am-positive bacteria.