Community health and human-animal contacts on the edges of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

Abstract

Cross-species transmission of pathogens is intimately linked to human and environmental health. With limited healthcare and challenging living conditions, people living in poverty may be particularly susceptible to endemic and emerging diseases. Similarly, wildlife is impacted by human influences, including pathogen sharing, especially for species in close contact with people and domesticated animals. Here we investigate human and animal contacts and human health in a community living around the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), Uganda. We used contact and health survey data to identify opportunities for cross-species pathogen transmission, focusing mostly on people and the endangered mountain gorilla. We conducted a survey with background questions and self-reported diaries to investigate 100 participants health, such as symptoms and behaviours, and contact patterns, including direct contacts and sightings over a week. Contacts were revealed through networks, including humans, domestic, peri-domestic, and wild animals for 1) network of contacts seen in the week of background questionnaire completion, 2) network of contacts seen during the diary week. Participants frequently felt unwell during the study, reporting from one to 10 disease symptoms at different intensity levels (maximum of seven symptoms in one day), with severe symptoms comprising 6.4% of the diary records and tiredness and headaches the most common symptoms. Besides human-human contacts, direct contacts with livestock and peri-domestic animals were the most common. Wildlife contacts were the rarest, including one direct contact with gorilla with a concerning timeline of reported symptoms. The contact networks were moderately connected and revealing a preference in contacts within the same species or taxon and within their groups. Despite sightings of wildlife being much more common than touching, one participant declared direct contact with a mountain gorilla during the week. Gorillas were seen very close to six animal taxa (including themselves) considering all interaction types, mostly seen closer to other gorillas, but also people and domestic animals. Our findings reveal a local human population with recurrent symptoms of illness in a location with intense exposure to factors that can increase pathogen transmission, such as direct contact with domestic and wild animals and proximity among animal species. Despite significant biases and study limitations, the information generated here can guide future studies, such as models for disease spread and One Health interventions.