A wild-caught (Tanzania) male intact adult Southern African Pouched Rat (Cricetomys ansorgei) was a housed at a research facility and had been at the facility for greater than six months. Due to having been wild-caught as an adult, his age was unknown. Upon arrival at the facility, the rat was quarantined and tested for: Monkeypox (serum and oral swabs to CDC), Salmonella and Campylobacter (AHDC), fecal parasitology, and fur pluck. Fecal parasitology was positive for parasites. Wild caught African Pouched Rats are commonly infected with Heterakis, Eimeria, Giardia, Hexamita, Trichuris, Spironucleus, Entamoeba, and Inermicapsifer. The rat was treated empirically with the following oral medications: fenbendazole, moxidectin, and praziquantel. The rat was negative for all other tested diseases and introduced to the research population after the quarantine period. Upon gross necropsy, the rat was found to be in thin body with chronic renal disease that histologically was characterized by severe, chronic, diffuse glomerular and tubular cysts with glomerular tuft atrophy, proteinosis, interstitial fibrosis, and moderate lymphoplasmacytic and histiocytic interstitial nephritis.

This senior seminar will discuss chronic renal disease in rats and secondary findings associated with this case.