Don't feed the monkeys on Bali: Researchers

Don't feed the monkeys on Bali: Researchers

Margie Mason, Associated Press / Bali

The monkey temples on the resort island of Bali are a perfect
photo op for tourists feeding bananas to man's closest relative,
but most visitors are likely unaware they're at risk of
contracting a little-known retrovirus recently found to jump from
primates to people in Asia.

Simian foamy virus, called SFV, has not been known to cause
disease, but a recent study triggers questions about its
potential to possibly sicken people in the future just as
scientists believe the HIV virus evolved decades after it jumped
species.

The authors say people can still visit monkey temples, but
close contact should be avoided. They advise wearing pants, not
taking food inside and never coming between a mother monkey and
her young.

In a study conducted at a popular monkey temple in Bali, lead
researcher Lisa Jones-Engel of the University of Washington's
National Primate Research Center in Seattle sampled 82 people
working in or near the Sangeh temple just north of Denpasar. One
farmer, who was bitten and scratched by macaques, tested positive
for SFV, becoming Asia's first known case.

"This is really a marker," Jones-Engel said in a telephone
interview. "The virus itself doesn't give us complications right
now, but it speaks to the context and the mechanisms for
transmission."

She said SFV is commonly found in many primates -- 89.5
percent of the 38 macaques tested at the monkey temple were
positive -- but has not been known to cause disease in animals.
However, little research has been conducted on how widespread it
is among humans or its long-term effects. So far, only about 40
people are known to carry the virus, including African bushmeat
hunters and zoo and lab workers in North America.

The authors suspect many more people have been infected in
Asia where humans and primates come in close contact. Some
700,000 tourists visit four monkey temples just in Bali each
year. Of those, an estimated 35,000 visitors are bitten,
according to the study in last month's Emerging Infectious
Diseases, a journal of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

About 45 monkey temples exist on Bali, and similar refuges are
scattered across Asia in Hindu and Buddhist places of worship.
"We're talking about a significant number of people, and we're
talking about people who then leave the next day and travel ...
around the world," said Gregory Engel, co-author of the study and
a doctor at the Swedish/Providence Hospital in Seattle.

The authors say people who have been bitten or scratched by
monkeys should not become alarmed, especially since there is no
easy way to test for the virus in humans. However, scientists
question how SFV could react when mixed with HIV, tuberculosis or
other human diseases.

SFV is genetically different from the virus in primates that's
believed to have emerged as HIV, but the authors say there's no
guarantee SFV won't alter and eventually become harmful to
humans.

The virus that causes AIDS is believed to have passed from
primates to people in Africa decades before it began sickening
people in the 1980s. There is no evidence SFV has been
transmitted among people. The researchers say SFV may never
become harmful to humans, but could be an indicator that other
viruses may jump more easily from monkey to man.