Abstract
IntroductionReintroduction of endangered animals as part of conservational programs bears the risk of importing human pathogens from the sanctuary to the natural habitat. One bacterial pathogen that serves as a model organism to analyze this transmission is Staphylococcus aureus as it can colonize and infect both humans and animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of various biological samples to monitor S. aureus colonization in great apes and lemurs.MethodsMucosal swabs from wild lemurs (n=25, Kirindy, Madagascar), feces, oral and genital swabs from captive chimpanzees (n=58, Ngamba and Entebbe, Uganda) and fruit wadges and feces from wild chimpanzees (n=21, Taï National Parc, Côte d’Ivoire) were screened for S. aureus. Antimicrobial resistance and selected virulence factors were tested for each isolate. Sequence based genotyping (spa typing, multilocus sequence typing) was applied to assess the population structure of S. aureus.ResultsOro-pharyngeal carriage of S. aureus was high in lemurs (72%, n=18) and captive chimpanzees (69.2%, n=27 and 100%, n=6, respectively). Wild chimpanzees shed S. aureus through feces (43.8, n=7) and fruit wadges (54.5, n=12). Analysis of multiple sampling revealed that two samples are sufficient to detect those animals which shed S. aureus through feces or fruit wadges. Genotyping showed that captive animals are more frequently colonized with human-associated S. aureus lineages.ConclusionOro-pharyngeal swabs are useful to screen for S. aureus colonization in apes and lemurs before reintroduction. Duplicates of stool and fruit wadges reliably detect S. aureus shedding in wild chimpanzees. We propose to apply these sampling strategies in future reintroduction programs to screen for S. aureus colonization. They may also be useful to monitor S. aureus in wild populations.
Highlights
Reintroduction of endangered animals as part of conservational programs bears the risk of importing human pathogens from the sanctuary to the natural habitat
The oro-pharyngeal S. aureus colonization rate was high in captive chimpanzees (69.2%, n=27 and 100%, n=6) from Uganda and wild lemurs (72%, n=18, table 1)
While colonization rates were similar in sifakas (81%, n=13) and redfronted lemurs (67%, n=6), we found a species related distribution of genotypes among lemurs: sifakas were colonized with S. aureus belonging to spa types t127 (ST1, n=1), t189 (ST188, n=10), t493 (ST182, n=2), t1429 (ST2436, n=1, Table 3)
Summary
Reintroduction of endangered animals as part of conservational programs bears the risk of importing human pathogens from the sanctuary to the natural habitat. We propose to apply these sampling strategies in future reintroduction programs to screen for S. aureus colonization They may be useful to monitor S. aureus in wild populations. Wildlife sanctuaries contribute to the conservation of endangered animals by providing treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care [1] It has been demonstrated, that drug-resistant human Staphylococcus aureus can be transmitted from care workers and veterinarians to chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), as shown in two sanctuaries in Uganda and Zambia [2] or in a research center in Gabon [3]. Most sanctuaries consider reintroduction as an important tool for the conservation of endangered animals [1] This bears the risk to introduce human adapted pathogens into the wild population where surveillance and infection control measures are hardly feasible [2,6]
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