Lack of pathogenicity of marek’s disease virus and herpesvirus of turkeys in marmoset monkeys

Newborn, juvenile, and adult marmosets were inoculated with Marek’s disease virus (MDV) and herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT) and observed for 1 year or longer. No clinical signs of disease attributable to the inocula were seen. Routine hematologic surveys and liver biopsies showed no abnormalities. None of the treated marmosets was viremic when tested approximately 4 weeks post inoculation. Sera from 1 of 34 marmosets inoculated with HVT and 2 of 29 marmosets given MDV reacted against HVT or MDV in an immunofluorescence (IF) test; however, preinoculation sera from 2 of the 3 reactor marmosets were also positive by the IF test. The specificity of the serologic reactions remained equivocal and could not be confirmed by virus neutralization tests. Attempts to replicate MDV and HVT in cell cultures of marmoset kidney, marmoset skin and muscle, human embryonic kidney, and WI-38 cells with or without diethylaminoethyl- dextran treatment or cocultivated with X-irradiated MDV- or HVT- infected duck embryo fibroblasts cells with or without the addition of ultraviolet-irradiated Sendai virus were unsuccessful.