Potential zoonotic pathogens hosted by endangered bonobos

Abstract

Few publications, often limited to one specific pathogen, have studied bonobos (Pan paniscus), our closest living relatives, as possible reservoirs of certain human infectious agents. Here, 91 stool samples from semicaptive bonobos and bonobos reintroduced in the wild, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were screened for different infectious agents: viruses, bacteria and parasites. We showed the presence of potentially zoonotic viral, bacterial or parasitic agents in stool samples, sometimes coinfecting the same individuals. A high prevalence of Human mastadenoviruses (HAdV-C, HAdV-B, HAdV-E) was observed. Encephalomyocarditis viruses were identified in semicaptive bonobos, although identified genotypes were different from those identified in the previous fatal myocarditis epidemic at the same site in 2009. Non-pallidum Treponema spp. including symbiotic T. succinifaciens, T. berlinense and several potential new species with unknown pathogenicity were identified. We detected DNA of non-tuberculosis Mycobacterium spp., Acinetobacter spp., Salmonella spp. as well as pathogenic Leptospira interrogans. Zoonotic parasites such as Taenia solium and Strongyloides stercoralis were predominantly present in wild bonobos, while Giardia lamblia was found only in bonobos in contact with humans, suggesting a possible exchange. One third of bonobos carried Oesophagostomum spp., particularly zoonotic O. stephanostomum and O. bifurcum-like species, as well as other uncharacterized Nematoda. Trypanosoma theileri has been identified in semicaptive bonobos. Pathogens typically known to be transmitted sexually were not identified. We present here the results of a reasonably-sized screening study detecting DNA/RNA sequence evidence of potentially pathogenic viruses and microorganisms in bonobo based on a noninvasive sampling method (feces) and focused PCR diagnostics.

Cell-Mediated Immune Ontogeny Is Affected by Sex but Not Environmental Context in a Long-Lived Primate Species

“…Human immunodeficiency virus infections markedly increase neopterin levels in humans (Fuchs et al, 1992), and a similar immune response is reported for macaques infected with the related simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) (Higham et al, 2015). SIV infections are common and widespread in wild chimpanzees (Gao et al, 1999;Li et al, 2012), but no bonobo sample from the wild or sanctuary has tested positive for SIV (Li et al, 2012;Medkour et al, 2021). Therefore, low neopterin levels in wild bonobos could also reflect differences in SIV prevalence between these species.…”

Mycobacterium tuberculosis sensu stricto in African Apes, What Is Its True Health Impact?

“…An epidemiologic study evaluating fecal samples of 91 bonobos ( Pan paniscus ) from 2 populations in a semi-captivity setting that were reintroduced into the wild at the DRC, showed no evidence of Mycobacterium spp. [ 52 ]. Fecal screening has low sensitivity because requires the mycobacteria to be excreted in feces, which only occurs during active infection.…”

Animal Models in Human Adenovirus Research

“…The availability of various tools including suitable animal models to study HAdVs is particularly important as the adenoviruses are diversifying, and more and more cases of interspecies transmission pose the risk of zoonotic and anthroponotic spillover events [ 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 ]. Interesting and germane research questions that could be addressed using wild type and chimeric viruses in in vitro and in vivo studies include, but are certainly not limited to: What defines the host range of adenoviruses?…”