Human-primate disease transmission in four Ugandan villages

As part of a research project investigating emerging infectious disease risk in communities located around Kibale National Park, SW Uganda, data were collected in 2014 and 2015 from 400 households in four Ugandan villages. Survey instruments were designed to query heads of households about the basic socio-demographic composition of each household, the nature and frequency of contact with both wild and domestic animals for individuals within each household, and the nature and frequency of illness, measured symptomatically. In addition, a “name generator” survey was deployed to assess the social networks of individuals by enumerating their closest social contexts within the community. Surveys were translated into the local language (Rutooro) by fluent professional translators then back-translated for verification. Surveys were administered by teams of trained field assistants from the local communities. Data were entered and proof read for accuracy and completeness by trained data managers.HIV-1, the retrovirus that causes pandemic AIDS, entered the human population from wild primates many decades ago. How did this happen? Specifically, what social factors created the conditions that allowed a primate-borne virus to be transmitted to people? This study will attempt to provide answers to these questions by studying present-day interactions between people and wild primates in a "hot spot" of human-primate conflict and contact in western Uganda. It focuses on communities of people who live in close proximity to red colobus monkeys. Decades of research on these primates has revealed that they interact regularly with local people in a variety of contexts, including antagonistic interactions, and that such interactions increase rates of disease transmission between the species. This study will build on this to explore how human social factors underpin "risky" human-primate interactions, employing qualitative and quantitative anthropological approaches to explore how people perceive and experience the risks of disease transmission. Because risky human-wildlife contact is tied to social resources (eg power, social situation, economic status), this will include reconstructing social networks in order to identify individuals who hold critical knowledge about human-primate contact as well as mapping contact networks for disease transmission into the wider community.