New Straits Times: Danger of keeping primates as pets

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New Straits Times » Features

 

Health: Danger of keeping primates

Dr S. Vellayan

 

March 4: Primates should not be kept as pets because they are not only

unpredictable but can also transmit infections such as dysentry, herpes

virus, hepatitis, scabies, helminths and even tuberculosis to humans.

 

THERE are 12 species of primates in Malaysia. People are fascinated by these

animals and keep them as pets because they resemble humans in terms of

physical attributes, personalities and social behaviour.

 

Primates most commonly kept as pets are the long tail macaques, pig tail

macaques, lar gibbons, siamang and orang utan.

 

Generally, they need a lot of attention and are expensive to feed. Every

year, primates are offered to Zoo Negara by people, who, after having bought

them as pets, eventually found them unmanageable. In 1986, about 30 such

primates were given to Zoo Negara. Monkeys and the larger apes are easily

enraged, strong, temperamental, unpredictable and dangerous. They will

readily attack and bite. Completely tame and trustworthy monkeys are rare.

 

Infections which have been transmitted from primates to humans include

dysentry, the herpes virus, hepatitis, scabies, helminths and probably

tuberculosis while amoebiasis, rabies and fungal skin infections are rarely

transmitted.

 

Doctors puzzled by the origin of such infections would do well to ask,

especially of children with severe encephalitis, whether they have been in

contact with a pet money or been to a zoo.

 

The herpes virus (Herpes B) is transmitted through contact with apparently

healthy monkeys such as the macaques through bites, scratches and

contamination of the wounds with monkey saliva or tissue.

 

Typically, the illness starts about seven to 14 days after a bite or

scratch, often with vesicles and pain at the site of injury. There is also

inflammation of the lymph nodes, with cold sores on lips and tongues.

 

Monkeys are susceptible to rabies, which is usually spread by the bite of an

infected animal. So far, about 16 cases of rabies in primates, which results

in disturbances in the central nervous system, have been reported.

 

Young Macaca is susceptible to the measles virus, acquired from contact with

humans suffering from it. The animal in turn will spread the virus around.

Other hosts include the squirrel monkeys, macaques and gibbons. Symptoms in

both animals and Man are skin rash, conjunctivitis, fever and facial

swelling.

 

Shigella affecting the primates such as gibbons and orang utans readily

infects Man. Fortunately the transmission of the organism to humans is rare.

The three common species of shigella organism are Shigella flexneri,

Shigella Sonnei and Shigella Schmitzi. The symptoms to be seen in both

animals and Man are stomach and intestinal bleeding.

 

The fatality of the disease was noted in a case when a child licked an ice

cream touched by a monkey in a pet shop. In another case, a child died from

shigellosis after eating a cake which had been partially eaten by a monkey.

Workers in laboratories and zoos are aware of the danger and they take

adequate precautions.

 

Salmonella is common in monkeys, gibbons and orang utans, with animal to

animal transmission through water and faecal contamination.

 

Man, too, can easily acquire the infections from pet monkeys, who are

" carriers'. Similarly, human carriers may pass the salmonella bacteria to

monkeys directly or indirectly as has occurred in most Asian zoos. The

symptoms vary from mild intestinal bleeding to rapid and fatal blood

poisoning.

 

Monkeys are also highly susceptible to the human, bovine and avian tubercle

bacilli, which may result in sudden respiratory arrest, with fine lesions on

the skin, bones and internal organs.

 

The Expert Committee on Zoonoses of the WHO/FAO refers to monkeys as the

most important source of human tuberculosis infection after cattle. In

Malaysia, primate tuberculosis is very rare.

 

Meanwhile, the causative organism of meliodosis is pseudomonas pseudomallei.

This dissease has been reported in all Malaysian primates except the slow

loris and proboscis monkeys. This is an important zoonotic disease for

Malaysians as its outbreak has been reported in local zoos and primate

colonies.

 

This disease is pathogenic to man and the clinical signs are acute bleeding

in the stomach and intestines and blood poisoning.

 

Endoparasitic diseases such as pinworms, tapeworms, whipworm and roundworms

are not serious problems as they can be treated easily. The hosts (which

include Man), are apes, langurs and macaques, amongst others. The symptoms

vary from dysentry, chronic diarrhoea to anaemia.

 

The common protozoal zoonotic diseases are amoebiasis, balantidiasis,

giardiasis and malaria. The hosts are apes, macaque and monkeys while the

clinical signs are usually diarrhoea which may be accompanied by mucus and

blood. In the case of malaria, high temperature and anaemia are detected.

 

In Malaysia, sporadic cases of these diseases are reported in humans.

Zoonotic filariasis also occur in Malaysia.

 

Veterinarians should discourage the public from keeping monkeys and apes as

they drain the natural population and do not make good pets. Today's gentle

pet may give a nasty bite tomorrow.