Chimpanzee Health Boosted by Human Safety Measures

Masks, distancing, and quarantines prove effective in protecting primate populations from disease

Protocols adopted from human healthcare, including masking and quarantining, are proving effective in safeguarding chimpanzees from human-borne illnesses. A new study highlights the positive impact of these measures on chimp health, especially in areas with close human contact.

Chimpanzee Outbreak Leads to New Protocols

A devastating viral outbreak in late 2016 at the Ngogo field site in Uganda’s Kibale National Park, which killed 25 chimpanzees, prompted researchers to implement stricter health protocols. The chimps are part of a population of approximately 200 that have been studied for three decades.

Research Confirms Effectiveness of Safety Measures

The study, led by University of Arizona primatologist Jacob Negrey and published in Biological Conservation, demonstrates that quarantine, masking, and distancing can prevent outbreaks in chimpanzee populations. The research offers insights for protecting apes in research and tourist locations.

According to Negrey, the findings are relevant to all scenarios where humans and chimpanzees interact. He suggests that chimps regularly visited by tourists face a higher risk of transmission due to exposure to a wider range of people.

We have really good reasons to think that chimpanzees that are visited regularly by tourists are at even greater risk of this sort of transmission because they’re exposed to a wider range of people on a daily basis.

—Jacob Negrey, Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Zoonotic diseases, or diseases that jump from animals to humans, are also a growing concern; outbreaks have tripled in the last 50 years (Nature 2022).

Ngogo: A Hub for Chimpanzee Research

The Ngogo site, now a leading location for chimp research, gained prominence due to its large chimp population and isolated rainforest location. The site was also featured in Netflix’s 2023 documentary series “Chimp Empire.”

Negrey has spent 12 years at Ngogo, studying factors affecting chimp health, with a focus on age-related diseases and viruses. He collects biological samples and observes chimp behavior. Encounters with elephants are part of the experience.

Prior to the 2017 outbreak, researchers followed International Union for Conservation of Nature protocols, including maintaining a 15-foot distance from chimps and proper disposal of biological waste.

But there was never any systematic study showing that they were effective. There was just such an urgency to this problem that it was like the solution needed to be put out before we even had evidence of its efficacy.

—Jacob Negrey, Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Enhanced Protocols and Their Impact

After containing the outbreak by February 2017, additional measures were introduced: symptomatic researchers were barred from the forest, the distance from chimps was increased to 20-30 feet, and masks and hand sanitizer were required. Furthermore, a one-week quarantine was implemented for researchers arriving from abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. All protocols remain active.

Negrey’s recent study analyzed nearly 70 chimp waste samples collected between 2015 and 2019. The data showed changes before, during, and after the implementation of stricter health protocols. Lab analysis identified human viruses in the samples. The amount of viral shedding decreased following the adoption of stricter protocols. The rate of coughing among chimps dropped from 1.73% to 0.356% after stricter protocols, and further to 0.075% after the 2022 quarantine protocol.