There are 73 non-human primate species in Africa and more than 40 of these have tested positive for SIV so far (Table 1 and Figure 4). While HIV owes its origins in human populations to viral jumps from chimpanzees, gorillas, and sooty mangabeys, other NHPs living in Africa (such as Cercopithecus spp., Colobus spp., mandrills, drills, etc.) could also be candidates for potential zoonoses in the future, because they are heavily hunted for bushmeat and harbor their own SIVs (Aghokeng et al. 1983), HIV/AIDS has infected over 33 million of people worldwide and has resulted in the death of 25 million of those infected (). Since the recognition of the first cases in 1981 (Barre-Sinoussi et al. However, the most striking and devastating example of an emerging disease resulting from cross-species transmission from NHPs is that of HIV/AIDS (Hahn et al. 2009) and simian foamy virus (Calattini et al. These practices have been linked to the transmission of retroviruses such as adult T-cell leukaemia (HTLV-1) (Wolfe et al. It is now widely accepted that a frequent mechanism of pathogen transmission from NHPs to humans is through the hunting and butchering of NHPs, because of the broad range of fluids and tissue types hunters and butchers come in contact with (Figure 1). Similarly, the increased proximity to humans may put at greater risk already endangered or threatened populations of NHPs because of their susceptibility to human diseases like scabies, intestinal parasites, measles, and metapneumoviruses (Wallis & Lee 1999, Palacios et al. 2004), through exposure to sick or dead animals, or keeping NHPs as pets, with obvious consequences for human health (Wolfe et al. The zoonotic transmission of these pathogens from NHPs to humans may occur under different circumstances, including caring for captive NHPs, laboratory handling of tissues or fluids (Switzer et al. These include retroviruses like simian immunodeficiency virus, simian-T-lymphotrophic virus, and foamy virus (Nunn & Altizer 2006). Over half of the shared pathogens listed as emerging in humans are viruses, and a large number of them have been isolated from wild NHPs (Jones et al. Non-human primates (NHP), our closest relatives, populate these ecosystems and constitute a reservoir of micro- and macro-parasites for humans, including a variety of helminths, protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. In particular, the ecosystem of the tropical forests is the most diverse in the world and it is harboring potentially threatening microbes. As a result, many recently emerged pathogens are shared with wild animals. We live in an overcrowded world, and whether in search for food, shelter, or work, we have invaded new environments and disrupted ecosystems that have remained unchanged for thousands of years.
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