EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER, APES

A chimpanzee was found dead in the remote Odzala National Park of the Republic of the Congo last week [Jan 2003]. Apollo, the world's best-known gorilla, is missing, and Ebola virus may be the culprit. The alpha male of a 24-member family hasn't been seen since early December [2002], when 2 members of his family were found dead -- along with 3 other endangered western lowland gorillas and several chimps. Less than a year ago, contact with a dead ape was blamed for an Ebola outbreak in the area that killed at least 53 people. Specialists have again found Ebola virus in the dead apes.

No associated human cases have been reported this time. Some 3000 pygmies and others in the area live by hunting monkeys [and apes] -- 80 percent of the world´s remaining lowland gorillas live there. The Wildlife Conservation Society estimates that huge numbers of gorillas and chimps may have died in an Ebola epidemic in the area 5 years ago.

In the ProMED-mail post entitled, "Unexplained deaths, wildlife - Congo Rep: RFI 20021207.5996", Dr William B. Karesh (Department Head, Field Veterinary Program, Wildlife Conservation Society) reported that earlier in 2002, villagers and staff reported the finding of numerous dead animals in the forest as an extremely rare event, and that the exact location of all carcasses had been determined. The Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville (CIRMF) in Gabon had been notified and was sending a team to the area at the invitation of the government of the Republic of Congo. CIRMF previously provided the laboratory confirmation of Ebola virus in 3 gorillas Dr Karesh's team had sampled after the animals were found dead earlier in 2002 in the same region of the Republic of the Congo. The identification and reporting of this particular mortality event did not result from human illness or mortality, but purely from the ongoing monitoring program for wildlife.

The above press report suggests that further testing has confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in dead apes. However, the relationship between wildlife deaths and Ebola virus outbreaks in the human population and the source and direction of transmission of the virus remains undefined. A phylogenetic comparison of Ebola virus isolates from wild apes and humans might shed some light on this question.

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