DETECTION OF BLOOD PATHOGENS IN NON-HUMAN PRIMATES OF THE ECUADORIAN AMAZON USING NON-INVASIVE TECHNIQUES

Non-human primates (NHPs) act as a wild reservoir for bloodborne pathogens, and the study of this will allow us to better understand the ecology of diseases and the role of NHPs in the emergence of human diseases in Ecuador. Most of those pathogens are of zoonotic importance and should be the focus of attention to understand the socioecology of zoonotic diseases and their actors. We managed to consolidate the bibliography and the respective reports of bloodborne pathogens in NHPs in the Neotropical region. This information did not exist or was not published in some countries, such as Ecuador. However, these gaps on bloodborne pathogens were strengthened by the information and the analysis of reports of arboviruses present at the neotropical level in the mammalian class, a taxonomic group to which NHPs belong and which also has geographical regions with insufficient information. We detected for the first time in Ecuador P. falciparum in a faecal sample from L. lagonotus contributing to the parasite ecology of NW NHP and we also made the first record of Trypanosoma for the NHP species L. lagonotus and the first report for Ecuador of Trypanosoma in Cebus albifrons. The fourth study allowed us to provide a local and regional tool to identify the risk pathways of Wildlife Management Units. This will provide an evaluation of the human actions involved in biosecurity with the aim of reducing the risk of transmission of diseases and their pathogens between wildlife and humans.