Yellow Fever Outbreaks Are Not Associated With Long-Term Negative Human Perceptions of Wild Primates in Brazil.
8 affiliations
- 1One Health Institute y Doctorado en Medicina de la Conservación, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile.
- 2Insect Behavior Laboratory, Instituto Federal do Norte de Minas Gerais, Salinas, Brazil.
- 3Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil.
- 4Departamento de Biologia Geral, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Universitário Professor Darcy Ribeiro, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- 5Programa de Pós‑Graduação em Biodiversidade e Uso dos Recursos Naturais, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- 6Centro Nacional de Innovaciones Biotecnológicas (CENIBiot), CeNAT, CONARE, San José, Costa Rica.
- 7Health Department at Municipal Government of Ubaí, Brazil.
- 8MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Abstract
Human perceptions of wildlife are fundamental to guiding effective strategies for conserving biodiversity and public health. Zoonotic diseases affecting non-human primates, such as yellow fever (YF), may trigger negative human behaviors toward these species. We conducted 474 semi-structured interviews across seven municipalities in Minas Gerais (n = 324 respondents) and Bahia (n = 150), Brazil, and used mixed-effects models to evaluate whether human perceptions of marmosets (Callithrix sp.) and howler monkeys (Alouatta sp.) differed according to previous YF outbreaks. YF occurrence was not consistently associated with negative perceptions of either species or with perceived disease risk from primates. Instead, more frequent sightings, higher education level, and being male were associated with more positive perceptions of howler monkeys, while marmoset perceptions remained relatively constant. Education was also associated with greater knowledge of disease transmission and lower perceived disease risk from primates, whereas women reported greater risk perception. Because education level differed among municipalities, we further examined the robustness of its association with howler monkey perceptions using sensitivity analyses, which yielded qualitatively similar results. Together, these findings suggest that socio-demographic and experiential factors may be more strongly associated with human perceptions of non-human primates than previous YF occurrence.
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BibTeX
@article{caparrosvallcorba2026yellow,
title = {{Yellow Fever Outbreaks Are Not Associated With Long-Term Negative Human Perceptions of Wild Primates in Brazil.}},
author = {Cristina Caparrós-Vallcorba and Filipe Vieira Santos de Abreu and Danilo Simonini-Teixeira and Waldney Pereira-Martins and Antonio Victor Veloso-Ramos and Sofía Bernal-Valle and Mariana Martins-Carvalho and Sandy Micaele Aquino-Teixeira and Naiane Jardim and Thayná Senario and Hermes P Almeida and Claudio Azat and Julio A Benavides},
journal = {American journal of primatology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/ajp.70219},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42904511},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Yellow Fever Outbreaks Are Not Associated With Long-Term Negative Human Perceptions of Wild Primates in Brazil.
AU - Cristina Caparrós-Vallcorba
AU - Filipe Vieira Santos de Abreu
AU - Danilo Simonini-Teixeira
AU - Waldney Pereira-Martins
AU - Antonio Victor Veloso-Ramos
AU - Sofía Bernal-Valle
AU - Mariana Martins-Carvalho
AU - Sandy Micaele Aquino-Teixeira
AU - Naiane Jardim
AU - Thayná Senario
AU - Hermes P Almeida
AU - Claudio Azat
AU - Julio A Benavides
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - American journal of primatology
DO - 10.1002/ajp.70219
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42904511
AB - Human perceptions of wildlife are fundamental to guiding effective strategies for conserving biodiversity and public health. Zoonotic diseases affecting non-human primates, such as yellow fever (YF), may trigger negative human behaviors toward these species. We conducted 474 semi-structured interviews across seven municipalities in Minas Gerais (n = 324 respondents) and Bahia (n = 150), Brazil, and used mixed-effects models to evaluate whether human perceptions of marmosets (Callithrix sp.) and howler monkeys (Alouatta sp.) differed according to previous YF outbreaks. YF occurrence was not consistently associated with negative perceptions of either species or with perceived disease risk from primates. Instead, more frequent sightings, higher education level, and being male were associated with more positive perceptions of howler monkeys, while marmoset perceptions remained relatively constant. Education was also associated with greater knowledge of disease transmission and lower perceived disease risk from primates, whereas women reported greater risk perception. Because education level differed among municipalities, we further examined the robustness of its association with howler monkey perceptions using sensitivity analyses, which yielded qualitatively similar results. Together, these findings suggest that socio-demographic and experiential factors may be more strongly associated with human perceptions of non-human primates than previous YF occurrence.
SN - 0275-2565
SN - 1098-2345
ER -