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Optimizing syndromic health surveillance in free ranging great apes: the case of Gombe National Park.

ABSTRACT: 1. Syndromic surveillance is an incipient approach to early wildlife disease detection. Consequently, systematic assessments are needed for methodology validation in wildlife populations. 2. We evaluated the sensitivity of a syndromic surveillance protocol for respiratory disease detection among chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Empirical health, behavioural and demographic data were integrated with an agent-based, network model to simulate disease transmission and surveillance. 3. Surveillance sensitivity was estimated as 66% (95% Confidence Interval: 63.1, 68.8%) and 59.5% (95% Confidence Interval: 56.5%, 62.4%) for two monitoring methods (weekly count and prevalence thresholds, respectively), but differences among calendar quarters in outbreak size and surveillance sensitivity suggest seasonal effects. 4. We determined that a weekly detection threshold of ?2 chimpanzees with clinical respiratory disease leading to outbreak response protocols (enhanced observation and biological sampling) is an optimal algorithm for outbreak detection in this population. 5. Synthesis and applications. This is the first quantitative assessment of syndromic surveillance in wildlife, providing a model approach to detecting disease emergence. Coupling syndromic surveillance with targeted diagnostic sampling in the midst of suspected outbreaks will provide a powerful system for detecting disease transmission and understanding population impacts.

SUBMITTER: Wolf TM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6457473 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Optimizing syndromic health surveillance in free ranging great apes: the case of Gombe National Park.

Wolf Tiffany M TM Annie Wang Wenchun W Lonsdorf Elizabeth V EV Gillespie Thomas R TR Gillespie Thomas R TR Pusey Anne A Gilby Ian C IC Travis Dominic A DA Singer Randall S RS

The Journal of applied ecology 20181023 3

1. Syndromic surveillance is an incipient approach to early wildlife disease detection. Consequently, systematic assessments are needed for methodology validation in wildlife populations. 2. We evaluated the sensitivity of a syndromic surveillance protocol for respiratory disease detection among chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Empirical health, behavioural and demographic data were integrated with an agent-based, network model to simulate disease transmission and surveillance. 3. S ...[more]

PMID: 30983624

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Project description:Oesophagostomum sp. is a parasitic nematode that frequently infects wild chimpanzees. Although nodular lesions are commonly associated with infection, some wild chimpanzee populations seem to tolerate Oesophagostomum nodular lesions while those at Gombe and other sites suffer from associated morbidity and mortality. From August 2004 to December 2013, we examined demographic (i.e., age, sex) and individual correlates (i.e., fecal consistency, Oesophagostomum egg production) to Oesophagostomum-associated pathology in 14 individually recognized chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. In addition, we characterized Oesophagostomum-associated pathology in 14 individual sympatric primates including baboons, colobus, and cercopithecid monkeys. In five chimpanzees, there was no evidence of any significant underlying disease aside from oesophagostomiasis to explain the thin condition or diarrhea. All five of these chimpanzees had moderate to numerous parasitic nodules. In general, nodules were more numerous in older chimpanzees. Three of four chimpanzees with the highest average Oesophagostomum egg counts in feces collected during the year prior to their death had numerous parasitic nodules at necropsy. In contrast, the four chimpanzees with the lowest egg counts had only moderate numbers of nodules. No association (P = 0.74) was noted between frequency of diarrhea in the year prior to death and the number of nodules noted at necropsy. Nodules were also present in all baboons examined documenting pathology associated with Oesophagostomum infection in wild baboons. In contrast, no lesions were noted in colobus or cercopithecid monkeys, although it is uncertain if they are infected as no fecal studies have been completed in these species to date at Gombe. Sequence of DNA isolated from nodules in chimpanzees matched (99%) Oesophagostomum stephanostomum. Further research is needed to identify the types of Oesophagostomum causing lesions in baboons and to determine if baboons suffer from these infections. Am. J. Primatol. 80:e22572, 2018. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Optimizing syndromic health surveillance in free ranging great apes: the case of Gombe National Park.

Publications

Optimizing syndromic health surveillance in free ranging great apes: the case of Gombe National Park.

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