Optimizing syndromic health surveillance in free ranging great apes: The case of Gombe National Park

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Tiffany M. Wolf, University of Minnesota; Wenchun "Annie" Wang, University of Saskatchewan; Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Emory University; Thomas Gillespie, Emory University; Anne Pusey, Duke University; Ian C. Gilby, Arizona State University; Dominic A. Travis, University of Minnesota; Randall S. Singer, University of Minnesota
• Language: English
• Date: 2019-03-01
• Publisher: British Ecological Society
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2019 British Ecological Society
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13284
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Applied Ecology
• Volume: 56
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 509
• End Page: 518
• Grant/Funding Information: Funding support for collection and analysis of syndromic surveillance data comes from the National Institute of Health (R01 AI058715, R01 AI120810 and R00 HD057992), National Science Foundation (LTREB-1052693), Arcus Foundation, USFWS Great Ape Conservation Fund, Morris Animal Foundation (D10ZO-902), University of Minnesota Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences, University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and Lincoln Park Zoo. Collection, digitization and analysis of behavioural data were supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R00 HD057992) and the Leo S. Guthman Foundation.
• Keywords: Viruses; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Ecology; Chimpanzees; Biodiversity & Conservation; Networks; disease transmission; apes; network model; Epidemiology; disease ecology; Metapneumovirus; Sarcoptic mange; Pan troglodytes; agent-based modelling; Wildlife; Tuberculosis; Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; syndromic surveillance; respiratory disease; wildlife surveillance; Biodiversity Conservation; Transmission
• Research Categories: Biology, Virology; Biology, Ecology; Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife

Abstract

Syndromic surveillance is an incipient approach to early wildlife disease detection. Consequently, systematic assessments are needed for methodology validation in wildlife populations. We evaluated the sensitivity of a syndromic surveillance protocol for respiratory disease detection among chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Empirical health, behavioural, and demographic data were integrated with an agent-based, network model to simulate disease transmission and surveillance. Surveillance sensitivity was estimated as 66% (95% CI: 63.1, 68.8%) and 59.5% (95% CI: 56.5%, 62.4%) for two monitoring methods (weekly count and prevalence thresholds respectively), but differences among calendar quarters in outbreak size and surveillance sensitivity suggest seasonal effects. We determined that a weekly detection threshold of ≥2 chimpanzees with clinical respiratory disease leading to outbreak response protocols (enhanced observation and biological sampling) is an optimal algorithm for outbreak detection in this population. Synthesis and applications. This is the first quantitative assessment of syndromic surveillance in wildlife, providing a model approach to detecting disease emergence. Coupling syndromic surveillance with targeted diagnostic sampling in the midst of suspected outbreaks will provide a powerful system for detecting disease transmission and understanding population impacts.