Yellow fever and dengue fever viruses serosurvey in non-human primates of the Kedougou forest galleries in Southeastern Senegal

The potential risk of non-human primates in Senegal to be natural hosts for arboviruses of importance for human has been assessed. A total of 58 wild monkeys, including 14 Erythrocebus patas and 44 Chlorocebus sabaeus, were trapped at three sites within forest galleries and the nearby village of Ngari, in the Kedougou area, Southeastern Senegal. Blood samples were taken and sera analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the presence of Yellow Fever (YF) and/or Dengue 2 (DEN-2) reacting antibodies. An overall yellow fever seroprevalence of 22.4% was found, including 5.2% and 17.2% YF IgG positive E. patas (3/58) and C. sabaeus (10/58) respectively. Three of the positive C. sabaeus were trapped near Ngari village, and the others in forest galleries. Also, 12.0% of the primates tested positive including 5.2% of E. patas and 6.9% of C. sabaeus, all of them were from the forest galleries. Ultimately Cercopithecidae act as potential amplificatory reservoir hosts for YF virus and, seroconversion observed within wild C. sabaeus and E. patas demonstrates also an active DENV-2 virus circulation within non-human primates in Senegal. The present study addresses and discusses new insight of both viruses’ natural enzootic cycles. Key words: Yellow fever, Dengue, monkeys, Senegal.