DAVIS, Calif. — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Wednesday released a report stating that Shigella, a highly contagious and newly drug-resistant pathogen spread through fecal contamination, is prevalent and underreported in the U.S. monkey experimentation industry, raising concerns about risks to workers and public health.
Shigella’s only hosts are primates, and it often jumps between other primates, such as monkeys and humans. This raises a serious public health concern regarding the large number of workers who handle infected monkeys during importation, quarantine, breeding, contract laboratory work and studies.
Currently, more than 100,000 monkeys are housed in U.S. laboratories, breeding facilities and holding facilities. Recent reports show that Shigella, including antibiotic-resistant strains, has been and continues to be reported at the California National Primate Research Center at University of California, Davis.
In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued warnings about the serious health threat posed by the illness. The CDC acknowledged that imported monkeys can carry pathogens “that may be a public health concern such as clinical signs consistent with filovirus infection, confirmed Shigella and Campylobacter infection, and malaria.”
Based on PETA’s research since then, Shigella continues to be a widespread illness in monkey experimentation and importation industries. Various tests show upward of 20% of monkeys in these industries contract “diarrhea conditions,” most of which test positive for Shigella.
In the report, PETA quoted researchers at Johns Hopkins University in 2023 describing Shigella as “an entrenched pathogen in primate colonies that is exceptionally difficult to control.” PETA also highlighted a quote from one attendee at a University of Washington Safety Committee meeting stating, “Virtually everyone who works in the [primate] units gets ill at some point in their first 6 months, due to meeting staph and Shigella for the first time and being around aerosolized fecal matter.”
PETA explained that despite the widespread infection of the disease, there is still a lack of oversight. The use of certificates of veterinary inspection intends to detect the presence of infectious or communicable disease at the time of transport. Despite this, CVIs often miss infections because of the lack of sensitive diagnostic testing.
In September 2023, 68 monkeys were trucked from the University of Washington’s breeding facility in Arizona to Seattle. PETA found no illnesses documented in the records. Days later, 70% of the monkeys were identified as infected with Shigella despite passing CVI tests.
In a letter sent Wednesday to the CDC regarding PETA’s concerns, the organization urged the agency to release data about infection cases. PETA additionally raised concerns over the lack of required systematic reporting of infections, adding that gathered data does not meaningfully incorporate primate-associated risk into its public health communications on shigellosis. PETA formally recommended that the CDC strengthen surveillance, improve transparency, and address risk and policy gaps.
PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel stated that “Drug-resistant Shigella is swirling throughout the U.S. monkey experimentation and importation world, where chronic diarrheal disease in primate colonies fuels ongoing transmission, repeated antibiotic exposure, and risks to both workers and public health. Shigella infections in humans are reportable nationwide, and the CDC has no defensible reason to allow infections in monkeys in the experimentation pipeline to remain invisible to public health authorities.”
Currently, Reps. Greg Steube and Dina Titus have introduced a bipartisan bill, the Preventing Risky Importation of Monkeys to Avoid Toxic Exposures Act, or PRIMATE Act, that would ban the importation of monkeys for use in U.S. laboratories. Supporters say the legislation would help end the continued spread and introduction of Shigella into the United States.
PETA urged people to remember that “animals are not ours to experiment on” and that they, too, feel pain, hunger and thirst.
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