MSc. Celine Ng Boon Yuan

Project Title: Non-Invasive Detection of Zoonotic Strongyloides at Human-Primate Interfaces for One Health Surveillance

Zoonotic transmission risks at human-primate interfaces present significant public health and wildlife management challenges. Non-invasive disease surveillance remains limited by a reliance on diagnostics validated primarily for human or livestock use. Strongyloidiasis represents a major public health challenge due to its capacity for chronic persistence and life-threatening hyperinfection; while predominantly caused by Strongyloides stercoralis, the zoonotic relevance of the non-human primate-associated S. fuelleborni (Sf) is increasingly recognized. The detection of Sf is frequently confounded by its distinct egg-shedding biology, morphological similarities to hookworm eggs, and a lack of species-specific diagnostic tools, leading to underreported prevalence. Therefore, this study to evaluates stool-based molecular diagnostic approaches to improve the detection and epidemiological surveillance of Sf at human-primate interfaces. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) workflows will be optimized using archived human samples in Malaysia. These assays will then be applied to non-invasively collected stool samples from three distinct macaque cohorts exhibiting varied levels of human exposure: wild, habituated southern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) in an oil palm-rainforest matrix, urban long-tailed macaques (M. fascicularis) in Penang, Malaysia, and a free-ranging Barbary macaque group (M. sylvanus) in Germany. To complement the host data, environmental soil sampling will be conducted to assess landscape contamination, alongside systematic observations of human-macaque interactions. By integrating host, environmental, and behavioral data across diverse ecological settings, this study utilizes a One Health approach to characterize the co-occurrence and landscape contamination risks of S. fuelleborni at distinct human-macaque interfaces. These multi-site data from Malaysia and Germany will provide foundational baseline insights to evaluate travel-associated exposure pathways and support early diagnostic prevention strategies

Website: https://project-sphere-one-health.celine-ngboonyuan.workers.dev/ - top