Intestinal parasite infection in non-human primates from The Gambia, West Africa, and their relationship to human activity.

In many areas of The Gambia, West Africa, population crowding in a degraded environment has forced close interactions of diurnal primate species with humans. We assessed intestinal parasitic infection prevalence and diversity in 4 diurnal non-human primate (NHP) species, and across 13 sampling sites. The effect of human activity, determined by the human activity index, and NHP group size on parasite richness was assessed using a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). The most common protozoa identified were (30%) and (25%). The most common helminths were (11%), spp. (9%) and (9%). Two of six (6%) spp. infections detected sequenced as (both in ). The more arboreal trended towards a lower prevalence of intestinal parasites, although this was not statistically significant (χ = 0.105). Human activity or group size did not have any significant effect on parasite richness for ( = 0.161 and = 0.603) or ( = 0.817 and = 0.607, respectively). There were insufficient observations to fit a GLMM to or . Our reports present the richness and diversity of intestinal parasites in 4 diurnal NHPs in The Gambia, West Africa. Despite desertification and habitat loss, our results indicate that the prevalence and diversity of intestinal parasites in Gambian NHPs are seemingly unaffected by human activity. Further investigation with a larger dataset is required to better elucidate these findings.