Simian homologues of human herpesviruses and implications for novel viral introduction to free‐living mountain gorillas

Abstract

The endangered mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo is frequently in contact with humans through tourism, research activities, and illegal entry of people into protected gorilla habitat. Herpesviruses, which are ubiquitous in primates, have the potential to be shared in any setting where humans and gorillas share habitat. Based on serological findings and clinical observations of orofacial ulcerated lesions resembling herpetic lesions, an alpha‐herpesvirus resembling human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV‐1) has long been suspected to be present in human‐habituated mountain gorillas in the wild. While the etiology of orofacial lesions in the wild has not been confirmed, HSV‐1 has been suspected in captively‐housed mountain gorillas and confirmed in a co‐housed confiscated Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri). To better characterize herpesviruses infecting mountain gorillas and to determine the presence/absence of HSV‐1 in the free‐living population, we conducted a population‐wide survey to test for the presence of orally shed herpesviruses. DNA was extracted from discarded chewed plants collected from 294 individuals from 26 groups, and samples were screened by polymerase chain reaction using pan‐herpesvirus and HSV‐1‐specific assays. We found no evidence that human herpesviruses had infected free‐ranging mountain gorillas. However, we found gorilla‐specific homologs to human herpesviruses, including cytomegaloviruses (GbbCMV‐1 and 2), a lymphocryptovirus (GbbLCV‐1), and a new rhadinovirus (GbbRHV‐1) with similar characteristics (i.e., timing of primary infection, shedding in multiple age groups, and potential modes of transmission) to their human counterparts, human cytomegalovirus, Epstein‐Barr virus and Kaposi's sarcoma‐associated herpesvirus, respectively.

Absence of Coronavirus RNA in Faecal Samples from Wild Primates in Gabon, Central Africa

“…It is possible that CoVs that infect great apes and mandrill replicate in the respiratory system and not in the cells lining the intestines, so a non-invasive sampling strategy needs to be developed to collect respiratory samples in the wild. For example, the nests of apes and mandrills should be inspected and nasal discharge collected along with plants chewed and discarded by primates [21].…”

Viruses in saliva from sanctuary chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Republic of Congo and Uganda

“…and monkeypox virus [40,[120][121][122]. Chewed ropes and vegetation have been used to detect herpesviruses and SFVs in saliva from wild mountain gorillas, olive baboons (Papio anubis), rhesus macaques (M. mulatta), and golden monkeys (Cercopithecus kandti) [23,41,91,123]. Flavored chew swabs have been utilized to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in free-ranging macaques [124].…”

“…In addition to concern for virus transmission between sanctuary NHPs and sanctuary workers, the possible introduction and spread of viruses among and between NHP social groups and species warrants screening for pathogens that could impact relocation or reintroduction efforts [5,[20][21][22][23]. For example, human herpes simplex virus type 1, which has yet to be documented in wild mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) populations, was detected in oral lesions of a sanctuary-housed juvenile eastern lowland gorilla (G. b. graueri) in Democratic Republic of Congo [20,23].…”