Doctoral Dissertation Research: People, Primates, and Pathogens: An Eco-Social Study of Cross-Species Disease Transmission in Western Uganda

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Emerging infectious diseases pose significant threats to global public health. The vast majority of diseases enter the human population through pathogen transfer from animals. The example of a human-acquired primate virus, which mutated to HIV serves as the underlying motivation for this project. Understanding the social and geographic contexts for human acquisition of animal pathogens will enable the interruption of pathogen exchange. The research setting for this research is Kibale Forest National Park in western Uganda, which serves as an epicenter of primate biodiversity and a focus of human-primate interaction. Conflicting goals of conservation and human livelihood over the preservation versus utilization of the environment, result in significant pressure on primate populations. This applies both to those living in the park and especially those inhabiting small, highly degraded patches of forest outside protected areas. This pressure leads to increased interaction between people and primates, and as interaction increases, so does the risk of pathogen transfer. This research analyzes the ecological and social factors that cause people-primate interaction around forest patches. It investigates the impact that human activities and spaces play in relation to primate habitat on human health. Health and behavior surveys combined with maps of activity spaces provide the data to test for meaningful relationships between disease, activities and spaces of people and primates. Further data will be generated through interviews with key informants. These interviews provide the project with the political, economic, and social structures behind human activities and spaces. The investigators expect to find structural elements shaping human activities and dictating activity spaces; and that activity spaces shared with primates significantly impact human health. This project extends current research focused on the biophysical processes of cross-species pathogen transmission. By pursuing two goals simultaneously - one that explores associations between primate exposure and risk of infectious disease and the other to understand structural factors that inform such exposures - we respond to gaps in contemporary cross-species disease research. Refining the spatial relationship between human activities, primate habitat, and health will provide the global community with a geographic context for emerging cross-species disease. Moreover, articulating the nuances of social, political and economic structures mediating transmission dynamics addresses the complex effects of social structure on disease ecology. Flexible interview methods allow underrepresented groups to voice health and conservation concerns. Understanding the social and spatial conditions that promote disease transmission is vital for predicting and preventing the emergence and spread of potentially pandemic cross-species diseases.