Preventing zoonotic and zooanthroponotic disease transmission at wild great ape sites: Recommendations from qualitative research at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Autor: Homsy King M; School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America., Nahabwe H; Church of Uganda Bwindi Community Hospital, Kinkizi Diocese, Kanungu, Uganda., Ssebide B; Gorilla Doctors, Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project Incorporated., Kampala, Uganda., Kwong LH; School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States of America., Gilardi K; School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Mar 01; Vol. 19 (3), pp. e0299220. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 01 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299220
Abstrakt: Employees at wild great ape sites are at high risk of transmitting infectious diseases to endangered great apes. Because of the significant amount of time employees spend near great apes, they are a priority population for the prevention and treatment of zoonotic and zooanthroponotic spillover and need adequate preventive and curative healthcare. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 46 staff (rangers and porters) at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda (BINP) and key informants from five other wild great ape sites around the world were performed. The objectives of the study were to 1) evaluate health-seeking behavior and health resources used by staff in contact with great apes at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park; 2) evaluate existing occupational health programs for employees working with great apes in other parts of the world; and 3) make recommendations for improvement of occupational health at BINP. Results show that BINP employees do not frequently access preventive healthcare measures, nor do they have easy access to diagnostic testing for infectious diseases of spillover concern. Recommendations include assigning a dedicated healthcare provider for great ape site staff, providing free annual physical exams, and stocking rapid malaria tests and deworming medication in first aid kits at each site.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Homsy King et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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