Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug;82(8):e23176.
doi: 10.1002/ajp.23176. Epub 2020 Jul 20.

The human-primate interface in the New Normal: Challenges and opportunities for primatologists in the COVID-19 era and beyond

Susan Lappan  1   2 , Suchinda Malaivijitnond  3   4 , Sindhu Radhakrishna  5 , Erin P Riley  6 , Nadine Ruppert  2
Affiliations

The human-primate interface in the New Normal: Challenges and opportunities for primatologists in the COVID-19 era and beyond

Susan Lappan et al. Am J Primatol. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in late 2019 and human responses to the resulting COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 have rapidly changed many aspects of human behavior, including our interactions with wildlife. In this commentary, we identify challenges and opportunities at human-primate interfaces in light of COVID-19, focusing on examples from Asia, and make recommendations for researchers working with wild primates to reduce zoonosis risk and leverage research opportunities. First, we briefly review the evidence for zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2 and discuss risks of zoonosis at the human-primate interface. We then identify challenges that the pandemic has caused for primates, including reduced nutrition, increased intraspecific competition, and increased poaching risk, as well as challenges facing primatologists, including lost research opportunities. Subsequently, we highlight opportunities arising from pandemic-related lockdowns and public health messaging, including opportunities to reduce the intensity of problematic human-primate interfaces, opportunities to reduce the risk of zoonosis between humans and primates, opportunities to reduce legal and illegal trade in primates, new opportunities for research on human-primate interfaces, and opportunities for community education. Finally, we recommend specific actions that primatologists should take to reduce contact and aggression between humans and primates, to reduce demand for primates as pets, to reduce risks of zoonosis in the context of field research, and to improve understanding of human-primate interfaces. Reducing the risk of zoonosis and promoting the well-being of humans and primates at our interfaces will require substantial changes from "business as usual." We encourage primatologists to help lead the way.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; biosafety; ethics; human-primate conflict; provisioning; zoonosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram showing the relationships between recommended actions and intended outcomes. Actions involving working with local partners to effect change through communication and education in communities at human–primate interfaces are lightly shaded. Actions affecting the practice of field research are unshaded. Actions by funders are dark shaded
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Adams, J. G. , & Walls, R. M. (2020). Supporting the health care workforce during the COVID‐19 global epidemic. Journal of the American Medical Association, 323, 1439–1440. 10.1001/jama.2020.3972 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andersen, K. G. , Rambaut, A. , Lipkin, W. I. , Holmes, E. C. , & Garry, R. F. (2020). The proximal origin of SARS‐CoV‐2. Nature Medicine, 26, 450–455. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Balasubramaniam, K. N. , Sueur, C. , Huffman, M. A. , & MacIntosh, A. J. J. (2020). Primate infectious disease ecology: Insights and future directions at the human–macaque interface In Li J.‐H., Sun L. & Kappeler P. (Eds.), The behavioral ecology of the Tibetan macaque (pp. 249–284). Cham: Springer.
    1. Bangkok Post . (2020). Monkey brawl in Lop Buri shocks humans March 11, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1876489/monkey-brawl-in-lop...
    1. Bao, L. , Deng, W. , Gao, H. , Xiao, C. , Liu, J. , Xue, J. , … Qin, C. (2020). Reinfection could not occur in SARS‐Cov‐2 infected rhesus macaques. Preprint at bioRxiv, 10.1101/2020.1103.1113.990226 - DOI

Publication types

MeSH terms