And apes and monkeys are so genetically close to humans that we should expect to get diseases from them.
Oh, and BTW, Liberians are predominately (85%) Christian.
Apes and monkeys carry a form of herpes that causes almost no discomfort for the monkeys but is highly lethal to humans (68% case fatality rate). Luckily, we do not catch this virus easily.
Most emerging pathogens are zoonoses. They circulate in their animal host, often without causing much problem at all, but then get into humans and result in severe, often fatal, disease.