Work

Wild Primate Populations in Emerging Infectious Disease Research: The Missing Link?

Year: 1998

Type: review

Abstract: Wild primate populations, an unexplored source of information regarding emerging infectious disease, may hold valuable clues to the origins and evolution of some important pathogens. Primates can act as reservoirs for human pathogens. As members of biologically diverse habitats, they serve as sentinels for surveillance of emerging pathogens and provide models for basic research on natural transmission dynamics. Since emerging infectious diseases also pose serious threats to endangered and threatened primate species, studies of these diseases in primate populations can benefit conservation efforts and may provide the missing link between laboratory studies and the well-recognized needs of early disease detection, identification, and surveillance.

Source: Emerging infectious diseases

DOI: 10.3201/eid0402.980202

Authors: Nathan D. Wolfe, Ananias A. Escalante, William B. Karesh, Annelisa Kilbourn, Andrew Spielman, Altaf A. Lal

Institutions: Harvard University, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wildlife Conservation Society

Language: English

Topic: Zoonotic diseases and public health

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: National Science Foundation, LOEWE Zentrum AdRIA