Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University have just revealed in a study the role of monkeys savages in the spread of disease. According to them, macaques living in large groups next to humans can act as super-spreaders of diseases, such as coronaviruses and influenza, both in the animal world and in humans.
According to the study authors, the spread of diseases might be slowed down by vaccinating the most sociable monkeys, which tend to congregate and interact the most with humans.
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“Targeting these with vaccinations or other forms of medical treatment might potentially protect both populations from macaques and humans in areas where they live nearby”the team said in a statement.
Ten groups of monkeys studied
In order to arrive at these results, the researchers focused on the interactions of ten distinct groups of macaques in Malaysia, in the north and south of theInde. They then simulated the spread of disease between monkeys and humans on a computer.
They found that the size of the outbreak depended on the interactions of the infected macaque first.
Thus, if the first infected macaque had large interactions, especially with humans, the scale of the epidemic was greater.
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Dr Krishna Balasubramaniam, lead author of the study, said: “COVID-19 has underscored the importance of understanding infectious disease transmission among wildlife populations in urban and peri-urban areas. Population expansion has increased human-wildlife contact, and these Human-wildlife interfaces are widely recognized as ‘hotspots’ for disease transmission across a variety of species”.
According to the scientist, the best solution is therefore to vaccinate these very social monkeys.
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“In addition to being ‘super-spreaders’ within their species, those individuals with the most human contact are also at the highest risk of cross-species disease transmission events, either from humans to wildlife or vice versa.” Before concluding : “These would be the most effective targets for disease control strategies such as vaccination or antimicrobial treatment.”
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