Olive baboons: a non-human primate model for testing dengue virus type 2 replication.

Objective: This study evaluated the use of a non-human primate, the olive baboon (Papio anubis), as a model of dengue infection. Olive baboons closely resemble humans genetically and physiologically and have been used extensively for assessing novel vaccine formulations.

Methods: Two doses of dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2) were tested in baboons: 10(3) and 10(4) pfu.

Links between habitat degradation, and social group size, ranging, fecundity, and parasite prevalence in the Tana River mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus).

We investigated the effects of anthropogenic habitat degradation on group size, ranging, fecundity, and parasite dynamics in four groups of the Tana River mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus). Two groups occupied a forest disturbed by human activities, while the other two occupied a forest with no human disturbance. We predicted that the groups in the disturbed forest would be smaller, travel longer distances daily, and have larger home ranges due to low food tree abundance.

Evaluation of HIV ELISA diagnostic kit developed at the Institute of Primate Research, Nairobi, Kenya.

The first diagnostic kits utilizing the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique were developed in mid-eighties, and since then, this technique has become an increasingly important tool for screening multiple samples of blood or serum for presence of antibodies to various infectious pathogens, especially human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in blood banks. However, most of the commercial diagnostic kits currently available in the market are too expensive, hence not easily affordable in most Diagnostic Laboratories. We designed an ELISA kit for diagnosis of HIV and compared it with some of the commercial kits.

Gastrointestinal parasites of critically endangered primates endemic to Tana River, Kenya: Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus) and crested mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus).

We conducted fecal egg counts of gastrointestinal parasites of 2 critically endangered primates endemic to the forest of Tana River, Kenya. We aimed to use the fecal egg counts as proxies to quantify the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites between the 2 primates. The Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus) and crested mangabey (Cercocebus galeritus) are of similar body size, but their behavioral ecology is very different.

Seroprevalence of simian immunodeficiency virus in wild and captive born Sykes' monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) in Kenya.

Background: The Sykes' monkey and related forms (Cercopithecus mitis) make up an abundant, widespread and morphologically diverse species complex in eastern Africa that naturally harbors a distinct simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVsyk). We carried out a retrospective serological survey of SIV infection from both wild and captive Sykes' monkeys from Kenya. We compared two commercially available, cross-reactive ELISA tests using HIV antigens with a novel SIVsyk antigen-specific Western blot assay and analyzed the data by origin, subspecies, age and sex.