Strongyloides Infections of Humans and Great Apes in Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas, Central African Republic and in Degraded Forest Fragments in Bulindi, Uganda

Abstract DNA sequence analysis was carried out on Strongyloides spp. larvae obtained from fecal samples of local humans, a wild western lowland gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla ) and a central chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes troglodytes ) inhabiting Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (DSPA), Central African Republic, and eastern chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) living in degraded forest fragments on farmland in Bulindi, Uganda. From humans, both Strongyloides fuelleborni and S. stercoralis were recorded, though the former was predominant. Only S. fuelleborni was present in the great apes in both areas. Phylogenetic analysis of partial mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene ( Cox1 ) and comparison of 18S rDNA hyper variable region IV (HVR-IV) sequences implied that in DSPA S. fuelleborni populations in humans differ from those in the nonhuman great apes.