Gorillas Infecting Each Other With Ebola

New Scientist ^ | 7-10-2006 | Debora McKenzie

[blam]

Gorillas infecting each other with Ebola

17:00 10 July 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Debora MacKenzie

Lowland gorillas are catching the devastating Ebola virus not just from the virus's normal host, thought to be bats, but also from each other.

So conclude Damien Caillaud and colleagues at the University of Rennes in France, who began watching 377 gorillas in Odzala National Park in Congo in 2001. "Maybe 30 are left now" of that original group, Caillaud told New Scientist.(There are other gorillas in the park that were not in the study group, which was defined by their use of the observation area, a popular swampy bit.)

The Ebola virus has killed a third of the world’s lowland gorillas in the past decade, and the epidemic seems to be spreading (see Great apes face Ebola oblivion). The researchers knew each animal individually, so they could chart when each disappeared.

The death rate fits an epidemic model in which gorillas living in groups catch it from other group members, and also pass it to solitary males. These males had previously been thought not to encounter other gorillas often enough to catch the virus from them. This shows that gorillas can spread the virus outside their immediate group, potentially affecting a much wider area.

[blam]

Ping.

[StACase]

Bush's fault! - I just wanted to be first (-:

[vladimir998]

Damn! That's exactly what I was going to write!

[MidlandDesperado]

Obviously caused by global warming.

[Ptarmigan]

Ebola is a serious disease with a mortality rate in the neighbor of 50 to 100%. It is one of the deadliest infectious disease known. The source is either bats, insects, or even plants.

[Pelham]

Yeesh. I thought King Kong was scary enough without the Ebola.

[potlatch]

Too bad we don't have a face on 'rilla'

[NewRomeTacitus]

Ebola is still the big bogeyman of diseases - it's source is still a mystery and the vectors are in primitive areas that defy tracking. Some say it's worse than Marberg, with the victims blowing out blood from every physical outlet (including the eye sockets) within three days of contact.

[Eagles6]

Damn. I'm crossing the finsh line when everyone's gone to bed! I thought that first! But I had to do someting...or...other.

[Eagles6]

Can't spain give 'em condoms or something? Oh, the humanity! Oh, they're not human? Never mind.

[Thumper1960]

Dang!

I thought Helen Thomas, Janet Reno, Rosie O'Donut and Hildebeast had Ebola.

< sigh >

[devolve]

I was thinking that too.....

[nonliberal]

Bush's fault!

I blame Rumsfeld.

[potlatch]

You need one of those beanies with the propeller for your 'thinking cap', hah!

[devolve]

'Rilla is a stubborn one

[potlatch]

'Rilla is a stubborn one

Heh, I better not say...

[tomzz]

One solution.

[pcottraux]

That's not very nice of them.

[blam]

Rilla Blythe

[potlatch]

Thanks blam, I looked at your site. We are trying to think of who to put on an animation.

[TightyRighty]

I'll never forget reading Hot Zone while I was laid up in bed with strep throat - ah, the nightmares I had.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Paging Dr. Fossey...

Gorillas in the Red Mist...

[Defiant]

That'll teach them to bugger each other.

[after dark]

This is terrible news.Conservation programs will not work with Ebola killing 97% of the free gorillas.The only way to save the lowland Gorilla now would be to capture the healthy gorillas and breed them in captivity until we know what is causing Ebola,and how to destroy Ebola. I hope some of the poachers catch Ebola .

[Ptarmigan]

Ebola has a higher mortality rate for one. I've seen people with Ebola. Scary!

[djf]

Although if we leave them in the wild, the survivors may have natural immunity that renders Ebola a nuisance.

[after dark]

If their numbers become to low there will not be enough genetic diversity to breed viable offspring.

I have heard of this happening to other endangered species.The lowland Gorillas were already on the brink of extinction.

[NewRomeTacitus]

My sympathy - it's a real life horror movie in one's face that one wouldn't wish on their worst enemy.

Well, I wouldn't.