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Noninvasive Monitoring of Respiratory Viruses in Wild Chimpanzees

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Abstract

To diagnose respiratory disease among wild great apes, there is a need for noninvasive diagnostic methods. Therefore, we analyzed fecal samples from habituated chimpanzees from Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire. Samples had been collected during four distinct outbreaks: two with known aetiology (March 2004 and February 2006) and two with unknown aetiology (October 2004 and August 2005). Fecal samples were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV), two paramyxoviruses previously found in lung tissue of chimpanzees that died due to respiratory disease. In the March 2004 outbreak, 72% of the tested individuals were positive for HMPV, and during the 2006 epidemic, 25% tested HRSV-positive. In the outbreaks where no causative pathogen was previously known, fecal samples tested positive for either HRSV or HMPV, showing that reinfection occurred. Virus sequences were generated and compared with sequences previously found in tissue; nearly identical virus sequences in both tissue and fecal samples were found. These results demonstrate that fecal samples collected during outbreak times can be used for the diagnostic and phylogenetic analysis of HMPV and HRSV. Using such diagnostic tools, systematic noninvasive disease investigation of respiratory outbreaks in wild great apes becomes possible. The methods presented here may also be applied for the investigation of further acute diseases in great apes and other species.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Ivorian authorities for long-term support, especially the Ministry of the Environment and Forests as well as the Ministry of Research, the directorship of the Taï National Park, and the Swiss Research Centre in Abidjan. For support during field observations and sample collection we would like to thank the assistants of the Taï chimpanzee project. We are also grateful to B. Schweiger, B. Biere and J. Reichel for providing diagnostic assays and J. Tesch for technical support. We thank R. Mundry for statistical advice. For helpful discussion and copyediting, we gratefully acknowledge T. Gillespie, S.A. Leendertz and A. Goffe. This work was supported by the Robert Koch-Institut and the Max-Planck-Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robert Koch-Institut, Nordufer 20, 13353, Berlin, Germany

    Sophie Köndgen, Svenja Schenk, Georg Pauli & Fabian H. Leendertz

  2. Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Svenja Schenk & Christophe Boesch

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  1. Sophie Köndgen
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  2. Svenja Schenk
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  4. Christophe Boesch
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  5. Fabian H. Leendertz
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Correspondence to Fabian H. Leendertz.

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Köndgen, S., Schenk, S., Pauli, G. et al. Noninvasive Monitoring of Respiratory Viruses in Wild Chimpanzees. EcoHealth 7, 332–341 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-010-0340-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-010-0340-z

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