Primates and the Ecology of their Infectious Diseases: How will Anthropogenic Change Affect Host-Parasite Interactions?

The sudden appearance of diseases like SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome1), the devastating impacts of diseases like Ebola on both human and wildlife communities,2, 3 and the immense social and economic costs created by viruses like HIV4 underscore our need to understand the ecology of infectious diseases. Given that monkeys and apes often share parasites with humans, understanding the ecology of infectious diseases in nonhuman primates is of paramount importance. This is well illustrated by the HIV viruses, the causative agents of human AIDS, which evolved recently from related viruses of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys5), as well as by the outbreaks of Ebola virus, which trace their origins to zoonotic transmissions from local apes.6 A consideration of how environmental change may promote contact between humans and nonhuman primates and thus increase the possibility of sharing infectious diseases detrimental to humans or nonhuman primates is now paramount in conservation and human health planning.