Human – monkey interaction on a University campus in Nigeria: An avenue for zoonotic disease transmission at the human wildlife interface?

Abstract

Monkeys are potential sources of infectious diseases to humans. Mona monkeys frequently gain access to human dwellings within the University of Lagos campus. This study was conducted to assess the level of human-monkey interaction with a view to determining if such interaction will create an avenue for zoonotic disease transmission from monkeys to humans resident in this human-wildlife interface. Information on frequency and closeness of human – monkey interaction was gathered from 395 respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews. These were used to determine respondents’ attitude towards the monkeys as well as their knowledge on monkey related zoonoses. Responses from the questionnaire were entered into and analysed using EPI INFO^TM version 7.2.0.1 statistical software. Categorical data were summarised as tables and bar chart. Chi Square, Fisher exact tests and binary logistic regression were used to test for significance and deduce relationships among variables. Statistical significance was determined at 95% Confidence interval. Most of the respondents (63.5%) were undergraduates; while 70.1% of all respondents were residents on campus. Only 19.8% and 6.6% of the respondents had close and risky contacts respectively, while 11.1% and 8.3% had negligible and minimal contacts respectively. Majority of the respondents (69.1%) had inadequate knowledge about monkey related zoonoses Only 39% were aware that monkeys could transmit disease to humans and 2% believed that monkeys could not transmit diseases to humans. Campus residents have significantly closer contacts with monkeys than visitors (p<0.05, OR=0.32). Residents were three times more likely to have had any form of contact with monkeys than non-residents. There was no significant difference between the frequency of risky human-monkey contacts among visitors and residents. The low level of awareness about zoonotic disease among the respondents could be ameliorated through public health awareness campaigns by health workers and conservationists.

Keywords: Conservation, Human–wildlife interface, Mona monkeys, Public health, Zoonosis