An Introduction to One Health and Neglected Diseases in Monkeys

Humans are dramatically and possibly irrevocably altering the global ecosystem, resulting in ecological boundaries between humans and non-human primates (NHPs) that are porous and increasingly blurred. By 2050 it is estimated that 9.6 billion humans will cover the earth (Gerland et al. 2014). In almost all countries where NHPs naturally occur, humans have converted forest habitats into an agriculture-dominated landscape to serve the demand for meat, palm oil or fruits (Estrada et al. 2017). This dramatic shift in landscape ecology has resulted in an ever-growing human–domestic livestock–NHP interface. Estrades et al. (2017) estimated that approximately 60% of all known NHP taxonomic families are threatened with extinction and a further 75% of all NHP species-populations are decreasing. The speed and the extent of these anthropocentric ecological changes are the main drivers for emerging infectious diseases of wildlife (Daszak et al. 2000) and spillovers from wildlife to humans (Karesh et al. 2012).