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Authors
Hockings, Kimberley JMubemba, Benjamin
Avanzi, Charlotte
Pleh, Kamilla
Düx, Ariane
Bersacola, Elena
Bessa, Joana
Ramon, Marina
Metzger, Sonja
Patrono, Livia V
Jaffe, Jenny E
Benjak, Andrej
Bonneaud, Camille
Busso, Philippe
Couacy-Hymann, Emmanuel
Gado, Moussa
Gagneux, Sebastien
Johnson, Roch C
Kodio, Mamoudou
Lynton-Jenkins, Joshua
Morozova, Irina
Mätz-Rensing, Kerstin
Regalla, Aissa
Said, Abílio R
Schuenemann, Verena J
Sow, Samba O
Spencer, John S
Ulrich, Markus
Zoubi, Hyacinthe
Cole, Stewart T
Wittig, Roman M
Calvignac-Spencer, Sebastien
Leendertz, Fabian H
Issue Date
2021-10-13
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Humans are considered as the main host for Mycobacterium leprae1, the aetiological agent of leprosy, but spillover has occurred to other mammals that are now maintenance hosts, such as nine-banded armadillos and red squirrels2,3. Although naturally acquired leprosy has also been described in captive nonhuman primates4-7, the exact origins of infection remain unclear. Here we describe leprosy-like lesions in two wild populations of western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Cantanhez National Park, Guinea-Bissau and Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Longitudinal monitoring of both populations revealed the progression of disease symptoms compatible with advanced leprosy. Screening of faecal and necropsy samples confirmed the presence of M. leprae as the causative agent at each site and phylogenomic comparisons with other strains from humans and other animals show that the chimpanzee strains belong to different and rare genotypes (4N/O and 2F). These findings suggest that M. leprae may be circulating in more wild animals than suspected, either as a result of exposure to humans or other unknown environmental sources.Citation
Nature. 2021 Oct;598(7882):652-656. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03968-4. Epub 2021 Oct 13.Affiliation
HIOH, Helmholtz Institut für One Health c/o Universität Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 1, 17489 Greifswald.Publisher
Nature ResearchJournal
NaturePubMed ID
34646009Type
ArticleLanguage
enEISSN
1476-4687ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1038/s41586-021-03968-4
Scopus Count
The following license files are associated with this item:
- Creative Commons
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