Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques
In social animals, group living may impact the risk of infectious disease acquisition in two ways. On the one hand, social connectedness puts individuals at greater risk or susceptibility for acquiring enteric pathogens via contact-mediated transmission. Yet conversely, in strongly bonded societies...
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doaj-50a253f8a786429986bfefd8135f8f6a2020-11-24T22:30:24ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592016-10-014e263010.7717/peerj.2630Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaquesKrishna Balasubramaniam0Brianne Beisner1Jessica Vandeleest2Edward Atwill3Brenda McCowan4Department of Population Health & Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Population Health & Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Population Health & Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Population Health & Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United StatesDepartment of Population Health & Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United StatesIn social animals, group living may impact the risk of infectious disease acquisition in two ways. On the one hand, social connectedness puts individuals at greater risk or susceptibility for acquiring enteric pathogens via contact-mediated transmission. Yet conversely, in strongly bonded societies like humans and some nonhuman primates, having close connections and strong social ties of support can also socially buffer individuals against susceptibility or transmissibility of infectious agents. Using social network analyses, we assessed the potentially competing roles of contact-mediated transmission and social buffering on the risk of infection from an enteric bacterial pathogen (Shigella flexneri) among captive groups of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Our results indicate that, within two macaque groups, individuals possessing more direct and especially indirect connections in their grooming and huddling social networks were less susceptible to infection. These results are in sharp contrast to several previous studies that indicate that increased (direct) contact-mediated transmission facilitates infectious disease transmission, including our own findings in a third macaque group in which individuals central in their huddling network and/or which initiated more fights were more likely to be infected. In summary, our findings reveal that an individual’s social connections may increase or decrease its chances of acquiring infectious agents. They extend the applicability of the social buffering hypothesis, beyond just stress and immune-function-related health benefits, to the additional health outcome of infectious disease resistance. Finally, we speculate that the circumstances under which social buffering versus contact-mediated transmission may occur could depend on multiple factors, such as living condition, pathogen-specific transmission routes, and/or an overall social context such as a group’s social stability.https://peerj.com/articles/2630.pdfSocial bufferingNonhuman primateSocial networksContact-mediated transmissionInfectious disease risk |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Krishna Balasubramaniam Brianne Beisner Jessica Vandeleest Edward Atwill Brenda McCowan |
spellingShingle |
Krishna Balasubramaniam Brianne Beisner Jessica Vandeleest Edward Atwill Brenda McCowan Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques PeerJ Social buffering Nonhuman primate Social networks Contact-mediated transmission Infectious disease risk |
author_facet |
Krishna Balasubramaniam Brianne Beisner Jessica Vandeleest Edward Atwill Brenda McCowan |
author_sort |
Krishna Balasubramaniam |
title |
Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques |
title_short |
Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques |
title_full |
Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques |
title_fullStr |
Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques |
title_full_unstemmed |
Social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on Shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques |
title_sort |
social buffering and contact transmission: network connections have beneficial and detrimental effects on shigella infection risk among captive rhesus macaques |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
series |
PeerJ |
issn |
2167-8359 |
publishDate |
2016-10-01 |
description |
In social animals, group living may impact the risk of infectious disease acquisition in two ways. On the one hand, social connectedness puts individuals at greater risk or susceptibility for acquiring enteric pathogens via contact-mediated transmission. Yet conversely, in strongly bonded societies like humans and some nonhuman primates, having close connections and strong social ties of support can also socially buffer individuals against susceptibility or transmissibility of infectious agents. Using social network analyses, we assessed the potentially competing roles of contact-mediated transmission and social buffering on the risk of infection from an enteric bacterial pathogen (Shigella flexneri) among captive groups of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Our results indicate that, within two macaque groups, individuals possessing more direct and especially indirect connections in their grooming and huddling social networks were less susceptible to infection. These results are in sharp contrast to several previous studies that indicate that increased (direct) contact-mediated transmission facilitates infectious disease transmission, including our own findings in a third macaque group in which individuals central in their huddling network and/or which initiated more fights were more likely to be infected. In summary, our findings reveal that an individual’s social connections may increase or decrease its chances of acquiring infectious agents. They extend the applicability of the social buffering hypothesis, beyond just stress and immune-function-related health benefits, to the additional health outcome of infectious disease resistance. Finally, we speculate that the circumstances under which social buffering versus contact-mediated transmission may occur could depend on multiple factors, such as living condition, pathogen-specific transmission routes, and/or an overall social context such as a group’s social stability. |
topic |
Social buffering Nonhuman primate Social networks Contact-mediated transmission Infectious disease risk |
url |
https://peerj.com/articles/2630.pdf |
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