Patterns of bushmeat hunting and perceptions of disease risk among central African communities

There is a great need to determine the factors that influence the hunting, butchering and eating of bushmeat to better manage the important social, public health and conservation consequences of these activities. In particular, the hunting and butchering of wild animals can lead to the transmission of diseases that have potentially serious consequences for exposed people and their communities. Comprehension of these risks may lead to decreased levels of these activities. To investigate these issues, 3971 questionnaires were completed to examine the determinants of the hunting, butchering and eating of wild animals and perceptions of disease risk in 17 rural central African villages. A high proportion of individuals reported perceiving a risk of disease infection with bushmeat contact. Individuals who perceived risk were significantly less likely to butcher wild animals than those who perceived no risk. However, perception of risk was not associated with hunting and eating bushmeat (activities that, compared with butchering, involve less contact with raw blood and body fluids). This suggests that some individuals may act on perceived risk to avoid higher risk activity. These findings reinforce the notion that conservation programs in rural villages in central Africa should include health-risk education. This has the potential to reduce the levels of use of wild animals, particularly of certain endangered species (e.g. many non-human primates) that pose a particular risk to human health. However, as the use of wild game is likely to continue, people should be encouraged to undertake hunting and butchering more safely for their own and their community's health. © 2006 The Zoological Society of London

Simian T-lymphotropic virus diversity among nonhuman primates, Cameroon

Cross-species transmission of retroviruses is common in Cameroon. To determine risk for simian T-cell lympho- tropic 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-specific 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 HTLV- seroreactive, PCR-negative hunters did not identify human infections with this divergent STLV-3. Therefore, hunter- collected 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

Phyloepidemiological analysis reveals that viral divergence led to the paucity of SIVmus/gsn/mon infections in wild populations

Human immunodeficiency virus subtype-1 (HIV-1) is the result of cross-species transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus from chimpanzees (SIVcpz). SIVcpz is a chimeric virus which shares common ancestors with viruses infecting red capped mangabeys and a subset of guenon species. The epidemiology of SIV infection in hominoids is characterized by low prevalence and uneven geographical distribution. Surveys in Cameroon indicated that two closely related members of the guenon species subset, mustached guenons and greater spot-nosed guenons, infected with SIVmus and SIVgsn respectively, have also low rates of SIV infections in their populations. Compared to other monkeys, including red capped mangabeys and closely related guenon species, such an epidemiology is unusual.By intensifying sampling of geographically distinct populations of moustached and greater spot-nosed guenons in Gabon, and including large sample sets of mona guenons in Cameroon, we add strong support that the paucity of SIV infections in wild populations is a general feature of this monophyletic group of viruses. Furthermore, comparative phylogenetic analysis reveals that this phenotype is a feature of this group of viruses infecting phylogenetically dispirate hosts, suggesting that this epidemiological phenotype results from infection with these HIV-1 related viruses rather than a common host factor. Thus, these HIV-1 related viruses, SIVcpz and the guenon viruses which share a common ancestor with part of the SIVcpz genome, have a distinct epidemiology to that found in other African primate species. $\textbf{IMPORTANCE}$: Stable virus-host relationships are established over multiple generations. The prevalence of viral infections in any given host is determined by various factors. Stable virus-host relationships of viruses that are able to cause persistent infections and exist with high incidences of viral infections are generally characterized by a lack of morbidity prior to host reproduction. Such is the case for cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in humans.SIV infections of most African primate species also satisfy these criteria, being found at a high prevalence, with rare cases of clinical disease. By contrast, SIVcpz, the ancestor of HIV-1 infection in humans, has a different epidemiology and it has been reported that these animals suffer from an AIDS-like disease in the wild. Here we conclusively demonstrate that viruses which are closely related to SIVcpz and infect a subset of guenon monkeys show an epidemiology resembling that of chimpanzees