Zoonotic diseases are increasingly recognized as a risk to public health. SARS coronavirus, SIV and avian influenza are among the viruses that have had a recent impact on human populations. In general, persistence of zoonotic infectious agents in human populations is uncommon, but, as in the case of HIV, viruses that successfully adapt to human hosts can cause devastating epidemics. Host similarity may be a significant factor determining the ability of a given animal virus to persist in human populations. Because humans are similar to nonhuman primates (NHPs) with respect to their immunology, physiology and behavior, infectious agents enzootic in NHPs may adapt more easily to humans, compared to infectious agents originating in other animals. These enzootic NHP-borne infectious agents may thus constitute a particular risk as potential agents of human disease. Recent research suggests that enteroviruses found in children from Bangladesh are genotypically similar to viruses isolated decades ago from NHPs that originated in South Asia, raising the question of whether NHP-to-human transmission has occurred. Enteroviruses can cause a wide variety of human illnesses including neurologic disease, myocarditis, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis and neonatal sepsis-like disease. We propose to examine the enteroviral fauna of Bangladeshi NHPs to identify a source for possible cross-species transmission of these viruses. Fecal samples will be collected from free ranging NHPs, including all 10 taxa of NHPs native to Bangladesh. Using PCR, nucleic acids from fecal samples will be amplified and sequenced to detect and identify enteroviruses present. Complete VP1 sequences for these enteroviruses will be used to describe the phylogenetic relationships between them and other known enteroviruses. This data will allow us to characterize the genetic variation of NHP-borne enteroviruses among different NHP species and in different geographic locations within Bangladesh. Ultimately, this data will provide insight into the potential emergence of NHP-borne pathogens and help to deter the spread of emerging zoonotic threats. ? ?
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