Simian T-Lymphotropic Virus Diversity among Nonhuman Primates, Cameroon

Abstract

Cross-species transmission of retroviruses is common in Cameroon. To determine risk for simian T-cell lymphotropic virus (STLV) transmission from nonhuman primates to hunters, we examined 170 hunter-collected dried blood spots (DBS) from 12 species for STLV. PCR with generic tax and group-specifi c long terminal repeat primers showed that 12 (7%) specimens from 4 nonhuman primate species were infected with STLV. Phylogenetic analyses showed broad diversity of STLV, including novel STLV-1 and STLV-3 sequences and a highly divergent STLV-3 subtype found in Cercopithecus mona and C. nictitans monkeys. Screening of peripheral blood mononuclear cell DNA from 63 HTLVseroreactive, PCR-negative hunters did not identify human infections with this divergent STLV-3. Therefore, huntercollected DBS can effectively capture STLV diversity at the point where pathogen spillover occurs. Broad screening using this relatively easy collection strategy has potential for large-scale monitoring of retrovirus cross-species transmission among highly exposed human populations.

High Prevalence, Coinfection Rate, and Genetic Diversity of Retroviruses in Wild Red Colobus Monkeys ( Piliocolobus badius badius ) in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire

“…Also for STLV-1 we found that the prevalence is much higher in P. b. badius than in P. r. tephrosceles monkeys, with no overlap found in the 95% CI: 50% in P. b. badius (95% CI, 29 to 71%) and 6.4% in P. r. tephrosceles (95% CI, 0 to 15%) (15). It appears that there is a great deal of variation in the estimated prevalence of STLV-1 in wild primates, ranging from 0 to 89%, depending on species and region (9,25,37,50). Interestingly, with the comparisons possible from our study, it is striking to observe such extreme differences also between closely related primate species.…”

Illegal Animal and (Bush) Meat Trade Associated Risk of Spread of Viral Infections

“…It has been estimated that more than 20% of NHP hunted for food are infected with SIV (Peeters et al, 2002). HTLV, especially human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV1) and human T-lymphotropic virus type 2 (HTLV2), are related to distinct lineages of simian T-lymphotropic viruses (STLV) 1 and 2 (Courgnaud et al, 2004;Sintasath et al, 2009;Wolfe et al, 2005a). A large diversity of HTLV-and STLV1-like viruses have been identified in Central African bushmeat hunters, suggesting that exposure to NHP contributed to the emergence of HTLV in humans (Wolfe et al, 2005a).…”

Application of PCR Technologies to Humans, Animals, Plants and Pathogens from Central Africa

“…A substantial proportion of wild-living primates in Central Africa are naturally infected with Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses (SIVs) [161,162,163], Simian T-cell Lymphotropic Viruses (STLVs) [164,165,166,167], Simian Foamy Viruses (SFV) [168] and also Hepatitis B Viruses (HBV) [169].…”