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Fecal Microbiota Dysbiosis in Macaques and Humans Within a Shared Environment



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  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Traditional zoonotic disease research focuses on detection of recognized pathogens and may miss opportunities to understand broader microbial transmission dynamics between humans, animals, and the environment. We studied human-macaque microbiome overlap in Kosum Phisai District, Maha Sarakham Province, Thailand, where a growing population of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Kosumpee Forest Park interact with humans from an adjacent village. We surveyed workers in or near the park with elevated exposure to macaques to characterize tasks resulting in exposure to macaque feces in addition to dietary and lifestyle factors that influence gut microbiome composition. Fecal samples were collected from 12 exposed workers and 6 controls without macaque exposure, as well as 8 macaques from Kosumpee Forest Park and 4 from an isolated forest patch with minimal human contact. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene from fecal sample extracted DNA was amplified and sequenced using Illumina MiSeq to characterize the microbial community. A permuted betadisper test on the weighted UniFrac distances revealed significant differences in the dispersion patterns of gut microbiota from exposed and control macaques (p = 0.03). The high variance in gut microbiota composition of macaques in contact with humans has potential implications for gut microbiome stability and susceptibility to disease, described by the Anna Karenina principle (AKP). Human samples had homogenous variance in beta diversity but different spatial medians between groups (p = 0.02), indicating a shift in microbial composition that may be explained by fundamental lifestyle differences between the groups unrelated to exposure status. SourceTracker was used to estimate the percent of gut taxa in exposed humans that was contributed by macaques. While one worker showed evidence of elevated contribution, the overall trend was not significant. Task observations among workers revealed opportunities to employ protective measures or training to reduce exposure to occupational hazards. These results suggest the potential for hygiene measures to mitigate negative aspects of contact between humans and macaques in order to optimize the health of both populations. The following information is missing from the Competing Interests statement: Correction: PLoS One 2019 Nov 27; 14(11):e0226092. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISSN:
    1932-6203
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    18 pdf pages
  • Volume:
    14
  • Issue:
    5
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20058318
  • Citation:
    PLoS One 2019 May; 14(5):e0210679
  • Contact Point Address:
    Peter M. Rabinowitz, Center for One Health Research, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
  • Email:
    peterr7@uw.edu
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2019
  • Performing Organization:
    University of Washington
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Start Date:
    20050701
  • Source Full Name:
    PLoS One
  • End Date:
    20250630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:f463e7d59ecd484f24a4712d1247e7f8f4e02d5ccf5ac4aa63ce2011daf0161241ab95c5b17da4c19c6111c256c7207cbca942c700eed23bf62a5d72ca63f2e7
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 2.05 MB ]
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