Monkeys found in Asia harbour diverse viruses which are known to cause infectious gastroenteritis or diarrhoea in humans, a new study of nearly 900 non human primates in Bangladesh and Cambodia has found. The research is the first to show evidence of human astroviruses in animals, and among the earliest to demonstrate that astroviruses can move between mammalian species, researchers said.

"If you are a bat, you have bat astrovirus, but if you are a monkey, you could have everything," said Lisa Jones-Engel, from the University of Washington National Primate Research Primate Centre and a co-author of the study. Astroviruses from a number of species, including human,bovine, bird, cow and dog, were detected in monkeys. This"challenges the paradigm that AstV (astrovirus) infection isspecies-specific," the researchers said.I t is still unknown whether these viruses are two-way and can be transmitted to humans. They did find evidence that, inmonkeys, two species of astrovirus recombined.

Knowing that non human primates can harbour diverse astroviruses - including novel, recombinant viruses that may be pathogenic and more efficiently transmitted - highlights the importance of continued monitoring, the researchers said. This is particularly true in countries such as Bangladeshand Cambodia, where macaques and humans live side-by-side. Astroviruses are most commonly associated with diarrhoea.The team, including researchers from St Jude Children's Research Hospital, also collected blood samples, which confirmed that more than 25 per cent of the monkeys had been infected with human astroviruses. Whether the monkeys were getting sick from these viruses is unknown, researchers said. The study was published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

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