Is Ecotourism a Potential Reservoir for Transfer of Pathogens?


 Ecotourism is appealing because it allows visitors to see nature in its purest form, including the ability to interact with fascinating creatures local to the area. Tourism revenue is a significant motivator for natural habitat protection, particularly among local residents who are familiar with ecosystem wildlife and plants.

Apart from the advantages, the growth of ecotourism has the potential to be a double-edged sword. Animal feeding, for example, is often used to allow close-up photography and petting of animals; yet, intimate physical touch between visitors and animals can cause shifts in animal behavior from eating to social interactions.

This intimate human-animal interaction also raises the risk of pathogenic and non-pathogenic germs being transferred from humans to animals (anthropozoonosis) and from animals to humans (anthropozoonosis) (zoonosis). The former is especially important today that cross-continental tourist travel is frequent, enhancing the transfer of "foreign" microorganisms to purportedly unsusceptible host systems.

Scientists analyzed the total microbial feces composition from human samples and two non-human primates(NHP) species in a semi-urban context in Malaysia at the Kuala Selangor Nature Park to investigate the frequency of bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

Antibiotic resistance was observed to be lower in the isolates derived from the two NHPs investigated in this investigation than in the human subject. The findings may imply minimal rates of human-to-primate transmission in the natural park, although this is a possibility. The variation in gut microbial makeup, which affects the colonization of resistant infections, may potentially play a role in the low carriage rate.

Researchers contend that providing food to NHPs may modify the gut microbiota in the future, affecting carriage rates. It is critical to raise public knowledge about disease transmission among tourists and inhabitants in order to prevent future transmission and minimize the damage to animals.

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