Poster Presentation 64th International Conference of the Wildlife Disease Association 2015

Assessing viral diversity within non-human primates of Peninsular and Bornean Malaysia (#167)

Mei Ho Lee 1 , Tom Hughes 1 , Jimmy Lee 1 , Frankie Sitam 2 , Simon J. Anthony 1 , Misliah Basir 2 , Senthilvel Nathan 3 , Benoit Goossens 3 4 5 , Melinda Rostal 1 , Jonathan H. Epstein 1 , Peter Daszak 1
  1. EcoHealth Alliance, New York, USA
  2. Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Peninsular Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  3. Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  4. Danau Girang Field Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  5. Organisms and Environment Division, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Land use change results in loss of habitat for non-human primates (NHPs) and increasing potential contact and conflict between NHPs and people123. The result of our viral surveillance program serves as an initial step towards understanding viral diversity in NHPs  and potential spillover to people4. Oropharyngeal, urogenital and rectal swabs were collected from 6 species of NHPs, (Peninsular = 632 animals; Sabah, Bornean state = 86 animals) from areas of close human contact. Samples were screened using family-level PCR assays for 17 viral families and were confirmed by sequencing. On Peninsular, three types of herpesviruses, including Macacine herpesvirus 1, were found in 26% of sampled animals, while in Sabah, 8 herpesviruses were found in 90% of sampled animals. Collectively, 34% animals had herpesviruses. On Peninsular, 10% had macaque foamy virus and 0.3% had human adenovirus. In Sabah, two foamy viruses were found in 22% of sampled animals, one astrovirus in 2.3% of sampled animals, one adenovirus in 2.3% of sampled animals and one human paramyxovirus in 1.2% of sampled animals. Our results indicate the potential for zoonotic viral transmission from wildlife in areas with NHP-human contact. Certain types of NHP herpes can be hazardous to people. The human paramxyovirus and adenovirus found in wildlife demonstrates anthropozoonotic transmission can occur and could be a health threat to protected species. Land use change impacts on disease emergence needs to be considered when expanding urban or agricultural areas, to minimize conflict and potential viral transmissions between NHPs and people.

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