Monkey Bites among US Military Members, Afghanistan, 2011

Abstract

If you were to list all the dangers faced by US military personnel serving in Afghanistan, your list would be long, but would it include monkey bites? It should. The US Army recently examined this risk and found that in just 4 months, 10 service members were bitten by monkeys. And there may have been more, unreported, bites. Most monkeys were pets owned by Afghan National Security Forces and Afghan civilians, so the risk of being bitten could increase as US forces work more closely with these Afghan people. Monkey bites can spread rabies, tetanus, or other bacterial infections, or B-virus infection to humans. Bites can be minimized by enforcing military policies that prohibit pet adoption and animal contact, and secondary infections can be reduced by providing better training to military health care providers on how to treat animal bites.

Questioning the Extreme Neurovirulence of Monkey B Virus(Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1)

“…When assessing the neurovirulence of BV, it is important to recognize that, within Asia where hundreds of thousands of macaques come into daily contact with millions of people, there is no conclusive evidence of zoonotic infections, neurological or otherwise. Genetic differences in human subjects (Asian versus non-Asian background) would seem an unlikely explanation for the lack of fatal BV infections in Asia since many non-Asian tourists visiting monkey forests in Asia and non-Asian military troops serving in Asia have experienced bites and scratches from macaques without any resulting zoonotic BV infections [ 11 , 19 , 61 , 64 ]. Similarly, inaccurate diagnosis of zoonotic BV infections in rural areas with limited healthcare seems unlikely explanation as tens of thousands of macaques are free-ranging in large metropolitan areas in Asia where access to healthcare, diagnostics, and case follow-up are readily available (e.g., Singapore, Hong Kong, and Kyoto).…”

Understanding Primate Herpesviruses

“…It is noteworthy that the only documented cases of persons infected with BV have been animal care personnel, veterinarians, and laboratory researchers working with macaques (or in one case the spouse of a caretaker). There have been no confirmed zoonotic infections in persons having been bitten by wild or pet macaques [ 122 , 123 ].…”

The effectiveness of the department of defense’s field manual 3-11 in detecting, deterring and degrading the breach of a combat base by a human-borne with bioagent (HBBA): perceptions of security personnel

“…Many studies have been conducted by the military in the U.S. and other countries to understand the role and impact of infectious disease dissemination among deployed personnel in terms of disease surveillance, [25–27], but at present, no study has addressed the breach of an ECP with the intent to cause bioterrorism (BT) against U.S. military personnel that would impact their health and mission.…”