Publikationsdatenbank

Assessing the Threat of Selected Human Respiratory Viruses to Habituated Wild Gorillas and Chimpanzees in Sub-Saharan Africa (2018)

Art

Hochschulschrift

Autor

Grützmacher, Sarah Kim (WE 5)

Quelle

Berlin: Mensch und Buch Verlag, 2018 — X, 70 Seiten

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/11991

Kontakt

Institut für Virologie

Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 51833
virologie@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

All great apes are listed as either endangered or critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. Infectious diseases have recently joined habitat loss and poaching as major threats to great ape survival. A human source of infection is suspected for some disease outbreaks in great ape communities habituated to human presence, such as respiratory diseases. Moreover, in certain cases, respiratory illnesses led to high morbidity and considerable mortality in different great ape communities. However, thus far, little research has identified the causative agents – knowledge necessary for optimizing preventive health management. In the few studies that do exist, either one of two common human paramyxoviruses was identified as the causative agent: human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) or human metapneumovirus (HMPV). But the viruses were never detected in humans at great ape field sites and assumptions of human origin are generally based on phylogenetic analyses that link the viruses found in apes to recent infections in humans. This cumulative dissertation thesis including two original publications provides further evidence for human-borne infections by simultaneously detecting HRSV in a habituated Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) group and the local human population at a habituation site in the Central African Republic. Fifteen gorilla feacal samples and 80 throat swabs from humans were collected during a respiratory disease outbreak in 2012. The samples were tested for common human respiratory viruses, including HRSV and HMPV. Identical sequences for HRSV A from four gorillas and four humans were obtained. Additionally, the presence of HMPV and rhinovirus were detected in humans who frequently entered the great ape habitat. As these findings attest to the need for effective preventive health management at such field sites, human quarantine as a preventive strategy was assessed. 262 throat swabs from humans in a five-day quarantine at the Taї Chimpanzee Project in Côte d’Ivoire were tested for selected respiratory viruses over a year alongside the collection of additional health data. As a result of quarantine and symptom monitoring, a total of 17 potentially infectious humans were kept from visiting the apes when symptoms occurred. One subject tested positive for HRSV after clearing quarantine and all other samples tested negative for the selected viruses. This thesis contributes to the growing body of evidence for interspecies transmission of respiratory viruses from humans to endangered great apes. It also demonstrates the importance of implementing continuous health monitoring for humans who intend to approach great apes. In settings where humans and great apes interface, it will be especially important to foster a One Health approach – an approach that also aims to reduce the disease burden in the local community. Such programs would benefit people as well as the endangered great apes.