Widespread Treponema pallidum Infection in Nonhuman Primates, Tanzania.

Idrissa S Chuma,Christian Roos,Robert D Fyumagwa,D Anthony Collins,Sascha Knauf,Filipa M.D Paciência,Julius D Keyyu,Inyasi A Lejora,Alexander Piel,Iddi F Lipende,Emmanuel K Batamuzi,Fiona A Stewart,Rudovick R Kazwala,Luisa K Hallmaier-Wacker,Dietmar Zinner,Simone Lüert

doi:10.3201/eid2406.180037

Abstract

We investigated Treponema pallidum infection in 8 nonhuman primate species (289 animals) in Tanzania during 2015–2017. We used a serologic treponemal test to detect antibodies against the bacterium. Infection was further confirmed from tissue samples of skin-ulcerated animals by 3 independent PCRs (polA, tp47, and TP_0619). Our findings indicate that T. pallidum infection is geographically widespread in Tanzania and occurs in several species (olive baboons, yellow baboons, vervet monkeys, and blue monkeys). We found the bacterium at 11 of 14 investigated geographic locations. Anogenital ulceration was the most common clinical manifestation; orofacial lesions also were observed. Molecular data show that nonhuman primates in Tanzania are most likely infected with T. pallidum subsp. pertenue–like strains, which could have implications for human yaws eradication.

Highlights

We investigated Treponema pallidum infection in 8 nonhuman primate species (289 animals) in Tanzania during 2015– 2017
The first published report of T. pallidum infection in Tanzanian NHPs came from anogenital ulcerated olive baboons (Papio anubis) at Gombe National Park (GNP) in the late 1980s [5], followed by cases reported from olive baboons at Lake Manyara National Park (LMNP) [3,6,7] and Serengeti National Park (SNP) [3]
The association between T. pallidum antibodies and skin ulceration was tested using 2-tailed Fisher exact test and was significant in olive baboons (n = 137; odds ratio [OR] 15.95 [95% CI 4.7–51.1]; p0.9999 [dataset is provided in online Technical Appendix 2])

Summary

Introduction

We investigated Treponema pallidum infection in 8 nonhuman primate species (289 animals) in Tanzania during 2015– 2017. The geographic distribution of infection with the bacterium Treponema pallidum in nonhuman primates (NHPs) in Africa has been reported to closely match the one seen in human yaws in Africa before the first yaws eradication campaign [1]. Many of these countries report NHP infection with T. pallidum strains that are highly similar to the human yaws–causing T. pallidum subsp. Early serologic investigations conducted by Fribourg-Blanc in West Africa confirmed widespread infection in several NHP species (e.g., baboons [Papio sp.], guenons [Cercopithecus sp.], red colobus [Piliocolobus badius], and chimpanzees [Pan trogoldytes]) [9], the infection in Tanzania was exclusively reported from olive baboons in northern parts of the country. In Tanzania, A) NHPs other than olive baboons are infected with the T. pallidum bacterium and B) that infection is not restricted to northern parts of the country

Methods

Results

Conclusion