Neotropical primate pathology
Veterinary Pathology, Platyrrhini, New World Monkeys.
Brazil harbors the world's most remarkable diversity of Neotropical primates. Retrospective pathological studies are an essential tool for species conservation, as they allow the identification of disease patterns associated with different environmental and management conditions. Describing the spontaneous pathological changes affecting Neotropical primates can support species conservation by enabling early, specific clinicopathological diagnoses. This thesis will conduct a retrospective study covering the period from January 2019 to December 2024 of the diagnostic collection of necropsies and biopsies at the Setor de Anatomia Patológica of the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (SAP/UFRuralRJ). This work aims to describe the spontaneous causes of mortality and morbidity in neotropical primates. Thus, a morphological and epidemiological description of the disorders affecting neotropical primates kept in human care and in the wild will be conducted. During this period, 497 necropsy and histopathology reports were performed on neotropical primates, of which 70.6% (351/497) were considered conclusive. Hepatobiliary alterations were observed in 172 cases, and of these, 52% of the disorders were associated with causes of death, mainly related to severe inflammatory and necrotic disorders. Regardless of etiology, hepatobiliary disorders were considered the leading causes of death among individuals of the Pitheciidae family. Deaths of pithecids kept under human care were mainly attributed to infectious causes, followed by noninfectious and inflammatory causes with no specific etiology. Noninfectious diseases were considered the leading cause of death among robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) during this period. In this category, there was a high prevalence among free-ranging individuals, and the main processes included polytrauma, degenerative diseases, and electrothermal injuries. This study also describes fatal intraspecific interactions, considered infanticides, in Sapajus spp. kept under human care. Systemic infection with Toxoplasma gondii was considered the leading cause of death among threatened atelids in conservation colonies, underscoring the need for prophylaxis and control measures to conserve those species. In cases of toxoplasmosis in threatened atelids, necrotic hepatitis was observed in 100% of cases. The overall prevalence of neoplasms of the female reproductive system in neotropical primates was 2.6%. The ovarian neoplasms observed in this study were classified as lesions without clinical significance, while uterine adenocarcinomas were considered important causes of death. Our findings suggest that there are no significant differences in the prevalence of spontaneous ovarian and uterine neoplasms among neotropical primates. The results of this retrospective pathological study reveal the dynamics of spontaneous disorders in primate populations, both in situ and ex situ, and will contribute to the conservation of these populations.