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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040721/sc_afp/environment_species_040721182537

Anthrax a major killer in chimpanzee colony

Wed Jul 21, 2:25 PM ET 
 
PARIS (AFP) - Anthrax has ripped through a colony of chimpanzees in West 
Africa,
providing fresh evidence as to how rare primate species can be destroyed by 
outbreaks of
exotic disease and a warning for humans who live in proximity to them. 

Between October 2001 and June 2002, at least six chimpanzees were killed by 
the anthrax
germ in Tai National Park, Ivory Coast, one of the most closely-studied 
wildlands in the
world, scientists report on Thursday. 

"Epidemic diseases represent substantial threats to wild ape populations, and 
through
bushmeat consumption also pose a hazard to human health," the authors, led by 
Heinz
Ellerbrok and Georg Pauli of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, warn. 

All six chimpanzees, ranging from a juvenile male called Noah to the 
community's alpha
male, Leo, were in apparent good health just days before their bodies were 
found. 

A postmortem found widespread bruising of the internal organs and rod-shaped 
bacteria
identified by DNA testing to be Bacillus cereus and Bacillus anthracis, 
closely-related
strains of the anthrax bacterium. 

The anthrax germ comes in a tough, protective, rod-like shell, enabling it to 
survive
harsh conditions in the soil, its natural home. 

After being inhaled, ingested or entering the body through an open wound, 
these spores
are confronted by defensive white blood cells called macrophages. 

Some spores are destroyed but others somehow survive in the macrophages, 
eventually being
transported to the lymph nodes. 

There, the bacteria germinate and then rampage through the bloodstream, 
exuding deadly
poison as they go and causing toxic shock which leads to organ failure. 

In their study, published in the British weekly science journal Nature, the 
researchers
admit they are flummoxed as to the source of the bug, for the Tai tropical 
forest habitat
is not a known source of anthrax. 

One theory is that the chimps could have eaten an infected antelope, the 
grass-eating
species likeliest to have picked up any anthrax in the soil. 

But more than 16 years of studies at Tai National Park show that the chimps 
ignore even
the most easily available ungulate and prefer instead to prey on small 
species of monkeys
to supplement their diet. 

Another idea could be that the anthrax came from contaminated water. But no 
other species
of animal was found dead. 

The study sheds new light on how these vulnerable species of primates are at 
threat from
disease, and not just poaching or habitat encroachment by humans. 

Research published in January found that the population of chimpanzees and 
gorillas in
Gabon and Republic of Congo fell by more than 50 percent in 2001 in an 
outbreak of Ebola
(news - web sites), a virus that causes fever and unstoppable haemmorrhaging. 

Two outbreaks of Ebola in the Tai National Park in 1992 and 1994 reduced the 
chimp
population from 51 to 31 individuals. 

The risk for humans from anthrax is also clear, given that both Homo sapiens 
and animal
primates are susceptible to the same disease, the new study says. 

People who hunt, butcher and handle bush meat could be at risk from infected 
chimpanzees.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV (news - web sites)), which causes AIDS 
(news - web
sites), is suspected to have leapt to humans from primates this way, possibly 
in the
1920s or 1930s, according to a molecular analysis.