Detection of viruses from feces of wild endangered Macaca maura: a potential threat to moor macaque survival and for zoonotic infection.

BACKGROUND: To date, there is a scarcity of information and literature on Macaca maura health status relative to viral diseases. The objectives of the present study were to investigate on the potential spread of enteric and non-enteric viruses shed in the environment through a wild macaque feces and to understand the possible interrelation in the spread of zoonotic viruses in a poorly studied geographical area, the Sulawesi Island. This study will also contribute providing useful information on potential threats to the health of this endangered species. METHODS: The sampling was conducted between 2014 and 2016 in the Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park, in the south of the Sulawesi Island and non-invasive sampling methods were used to collect fresh stools of the M. maura, one of the seven macaque species endemic to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The population under study consisted in two wild, neighboring social macaque groups with partially overlapping home ranges; twenty-four samples were collected and examined using negative staining electron microscopy and a panel of PCR protocols for the detection of ten RNA and two DNA viruses. RESULTS: Viral particles resembling parvovirus (5 samples), picornavirus (13 samples) and calicivirus (13 samples) were detected by electron microscopy whereas the PCR panel was negative for the 12 viruses investigated, except for one sample positive for a mosquito flavivirus. The results did not correlate with animal sex; furthermore, because all of the animals were clinically healthy, it was not possible to correlate feces consistency with viral presence. CONCLUSIONS: As information on viral infections in wild moor macaques remains limited, further studies are yet required to identify the fecal-oral and blood transmitted potentially zoonotic viruses, which may infect the moor macaque and other macaque species endemic to the South Sulawesi Island.

Encephalomyocarditis virus infection in Macaca sylvanus and Hystrix cristata from an Italian rescue centre for wild and exotic animals.

BACKGROUND: The Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) is a small, non enveloped, positive sense single-stranded RNA virus in the genus Cardiovirus, family Picornaviridae, with two known serotypes. It is spread worldwide and infects a huge range of vertebrate hosts with zoonotic potential for humans. The pig is the mammal most likely to be impacted on with the disease, but EMCV occurrence has also been reported in non-human primates and in a variety of domestic, captive and wild animals. Until now, human cases have been very rare and the risk appears to be almost negligible in spite of human susceptibility to the infection. CASE PRESENTATION: Between September and November 2012 a fatal Encephalomyocarditis virus outbreak involving four Barbary macaques and 24 crested porcupines occurred at a rescue centre for wild and exotic animals in Central Italy. In this open-field zoo park located near Grosseto, Tuscany about 1000 animals belonging to different species, including various non-human primates were hosted at that time. Sudden deaths were generally observed without any evident symptoms or only with mild nonspecific clinical signs. The major gross change was characterised by grey-white necrotic foci in the myocardium and the same EMCV strain was isolated both in macaques and crested porcupines. Phylogenetic analysis has confirmed that only one EMCV strain is circulating in Italy, capable of infecting different animal species. CONCLUSIONS: This report confirms the susceptibility of non-human primates to the EMCV infection and describes the disease in porcupine, a common wild Italian and African species. No human cases were observed, but given the zoonotic potential of EMCV these findings are of importance in the context of animal-human interface.