To the Editor: In the past 10 years, chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has caused global epidemics of fever, rash, and arthralgia affecting millions of humans, most recently in the Americas (1). CHIKV is an alphavirus transmitted by Aedes spp. mosquitoes. This virus has been isolated from wild vertebrates, particularly nonhuman primates (NHPs), in Africa (2). This sylvatic cycle might maintain the virus during interepidemic periods. The role of sylvatic cycles in Asia is less clear.

Encroachment of human settlements into forests has caused increased conflict between humans and macaques for space and resources in urban and rural areas. This interface exposes humans to zoonotic pathogens found in monkeys, such as CHIKV, dengue virus, and Plasmodium knowlesi. The most common macaque species in Peninsular Malaysia is the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis); an estimated population of> 130,000 monkeys live in human-populated areas (3). We determined the potential role of long-tailed macaques in conflict with humans as a reservoir of CHIKV in Malaysia. In response to reports of long-tailed macaques in human-populated areas, the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks traps monkeys in these areas and relocates them to forest areas. As part of the Wildlife Disease Surveillance Program conducted by Outbreak Response Team of this department, with assistance from the Eco-Health Alliance, serum samples were collected from 147 long-tailed macaques at> 20 sites in the states of Selangor (88 monkeys), Negeri Sembilan (21), Perak (18), Pahang (17), and Penang (3)(Figure). Samples were collected in October–November 2009 and October 2010, just after a nationwide outbreak of CHIKV that affected> 13,000 persons in 2008–2009 (4). These samples represent 0.05%–0.29% of estimated populations of long-tailed macaques in human-populated areas in these 5 states (3). A seroneutralization assay was performed by using baby hamster kidney cells to screen for neutralizing antibodies against CHIKV in heat-inactivated monkey serum