Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Aug 25;17(8):e0011499. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011499. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Rapid increases in human populations and environmental changes of past decades have led to changes in rates of contact and spatial overlap with wildlife. Together with other historical, social and environmental processes, this has significantly contributed to pathogen transmission in both directions, especially between humans and non-human primates, whose close phylogenetic relationship facilitates cross-infections. Using high-throughput amplicon sequencing, we studied strongylid communities in sympatric western lowland gorillas, central chimpanzees and humans co-occurring in an unprotected area in the northern periphery of the Dja Faunal Reserve, Cameroon. At the genus level, we classified 65 strongylid ITS-2 amplicon sequencing variants (ASVs) in humans and great apes. Great apes exhibited higher strongylid diversity than humans. Necator and Oesophagostomum were the most prevalent genera, and we commonly observed mixed infections of more than one strongylid species. Human strongylid communities were dominated by the human hookworm N. americanus, while great apes were mainly infected with N. gorillae, O. stephanostomum and trichostrongylids. We were also able to detect rare strongylid taxa (such as Ancylostoma and Ternidens). We detected eight ASVs shared between humans and great apes (four N. americanus variants, two N. gorillae variants, one O. stephanostomum type I and one Trichostrongylus sp. type II variant). Our results show that knowledge of strongylid communities in primates, including humans, is still limited. Sharing the same habitat, especially outside protected areas (where access to the forest is not restricted), can enable mutual parasite exchange and can even override host phylogeny or conserved patterns. Such studies are critical for assessing the threats posed to all hosts by increasing human-wildlife spatial overlap. In this study, the term "contact" refers to physical contact, while "spatial overlap" refers to environmental contact.
过去几十年中，人口的快速增长和环境变化导致了人类与野生动物接触和空间重叠的变化。再加上其他历史、社会和环境因素，这极大地促进了病原体在两个方向上的传播，特别是在人类和非人类灵长类动物之间，它们密切的进化关系促进了交叉感染。本研究使用高通量扩增子测序，研究了在喀麦隆北部 Dja 野生动物保护区周边未受保护地区共生的西部低地大猩猩、中部黑猩猩和人类中，同时出现的强旋毛虫群落。在属水平上，我们在人类和大猿中鉴定了 65 种强旋毛虫 ITS-2 扩增子测序变体（ASV）。大猿的强旋毛虫多样性高于人类。似蛔属和片形属是最常见的属，我们经常观察到一种以上强旋毛虫物种的混合感染。人类的强旋毛虫群落主要由人蛔虫 N. americanus 主导，而大猿主要感染 N. gorillae、O. stephanostomum 和圆线虫。我们还能够检测到罕见的强旋毛虫类群（如Ancylostoma 和 Ternidens）。我们在人类和大猿之间检测到了 8 种共享的 ASV（4 种 N. americanus 变体、2 种 N. gorillae 变体、1 种 O. stephanostomum Ⅰ型和 1 种 Trichostrongylus sp. Ⅱ型变体）。本研究结果表明，我们对灵长类动物（包括人类）强旋毛虫群落的了解仍然有限。在同一栖息地，特别是在保护区外（进入森林不受限制），共享栖息地可以促进寄生虫相互交换，甚至可以忽略宿主的进化关系或保守模式。这些研究对于评估人类与野生动物空间重叠增加对所有宿主构成的威胁至关重要。在本研究中，术语“接触”是指身体接触，而“空间重叠”是指环境接触。
