Noninvasive western lowland gorilla's health monitoring: A decade of simian immunodeficiency virus surveillance in southern Cameroon.

ABSTRACT: Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVgor) causes persistent infection in critically endangered western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) from west central Africa. SIVgor is closely related to chimpanzee and human immunodeficiency viruses (SIVcpz and HIV-1, respectively). We established a noninvasive method that does not interfere with gorillas' natural behaviour to provide wildlife pathogen surveillance and health monitoring for conservation. A total of 1,665 geo-referenced fecal samples were collected at regular intervals from February 2006 to December 2014 (123 sampling days) in the Campo-Ma'an National Park (southwest Cameroon). Host genotyping was performed using microsatellite markers, SIVgor infection was identified by serology and genetic amplification was attempted on

SUBMITTER: Villabona-Arenas CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6262910 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature