Primates on display: Potential disease consequences beyond bushmeat

Abstract

Human interactions with nonhuman primates vary tremendously, from daily cultural engagements and food commodities, to pet ownership and tourist encounters. These interactions provide opportunities for the exchange of pathogenic organisms (both zoonoses and anthroponoses). As exposures are not limited to areas where bushmeat usage continues to be a major problem, we must work to understand better our motivations for engaging in activities like owning primates as pets and having direct physical contact with wild primates within the context of nature-based tourism. These topics, and the theoretical potential for pathogen transmission, are reviewed in the present manuscript. This is followed by a case study utilizing 3845 survey responses collected from four international locations known for primate-based tourism, with results indicating that while a majority of people understand that they can give/get diseases to/from wild primates, a surprising percentage would still touch or feed these animals if given the opportunity. Many people still choose to touch and/or own primates, as their drive to bond with animals outweighs some basic health behaviors. Desires to tame, control, or otherwise establish emotional connections with other species, combined with the central role of touch for exploring our environment, necessitate the development of better communication and educational campaigns to minimize risks of emerging infectious diseases.

Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles in Enterococcus spp. Isolates From Fecal Samples of Wild and Captive Black Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) in South Brazil

“…Outside of their natural environment, they can be found in zoological, rehabilitation, or research centers, and even in urban and rural environments. Additionally, these animals exhibit a niche overlap with humans in the case of semi-wild areas ( Muehlenbein, 2017 ). Since the natural habitats of primates are forests, most interactions between humans and primates occur in this high-risk interface.…”

A Sarcina bacterium linked to lethal disease in sanctuary chimpanzees in Sierra Leone

“…For example, one of the main causative agents of human malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, once thought to have co-evolved with humans, actually arose from a recent zoonotic transmission from a western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla (Savage, 1847)) [19][20][21] . Nowhere are such risks more evident than in zoological and sanctuary settings, where captive and semicaptive primates come into frequent close contact with people 22,23 . For example, contact with New World primates led to simian foamy virus transmission to primate workers in Brazil 24 and monkeypox virus transmission occurred in staff at a primate sanctuary following a monkeypox outbreak in sanctuary chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes (Blumenbach, 1775)) in Cameroon 25 .…”

Rethinking Human–Nonhuman Primate Contact and Pathogenic Disease Spillover

“…Overall, we found that contact is deployed in multiple and inconsistent ways. Contact can be qualified as ''direct,'' that is, a physical exposure to bodily fluids of an infected animal through mucosal or wound exposure; however, this same ''direct contact'' can also refer to aerosolized contact with droplets of infected bodily fluids (Mossoun et al 2017;Muehlenbein 2017;Kurpiers et al 2016;Gilardi et al 2015;Köndgen et al 2008). It can be defined as ''indirect'' or ''secondary,'' ranging from exposure to fomites, feces or vectors to inhabiting the same geographical zone (Kurpiers et al 2016;Gilardi et al 2015;Ravasi et al 2012;Davies and Pedersen 2008;Wolfe et al 2007).…”