Data from: Identifying future zoonotic disease threats: where are the gaps in our understanding of primate infectious diseases?

Background and objectives: Emerging infectious diseases often originate in
wildlife, making it important to identify infectious agents in wild
populations. It is widely acknowledged that wild animals are incompletely
sampled for infectious agents, especially in developing countries, but it
is unclear how much more sampling is needed, and where that effort should
focus in terms of host species and geographic locations. Here we identify
these gaps in primate parasites, many of which have already emerged as
threats to human health. Methodology: We obtained primate host-parasite
records and other variables from existing databases. We then investigated
sampling effort within primates relative to their geographic range size,
and within countries relative to their primate species richness. We used
generalized linear models, controlling for phylogenetic or spatial
autocorrelation, to model variation in sampling effort across primates and
countries. Finally, we used species richness estimators to extrapolate
parasite species richness. Results: We found uneven sampling effort within
all primate groups and continents. Sampling effort among primates was
influenced by their geographic range size and substrate use, with
terrestrial species receiving more sampling. Our parasite species richness
estimates suggested that, among the best-sampled primates and countries,
almost half of primate parasites remain to be sampled; for most primate
hosts, the situation is much worse. Conclusions and implications: Sampling
effort for primate parasites is uneven and low. The sobering message is
that we know little about even the best studied primates, and even less
regarding the spatial and temporal distribution of parasitism within
species.