Anthrax threatens wild apes

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <b> <h1 class="title"><font face="Arial" size="4">Anthrax threatens wild apes</font></h1> </b><p class="title"><font face="Arial" size="1">Posted July 21<br> Nature research journals<br> and World Science staff</font></p> <b> <p><font size="2"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">A<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">If hunting and habitat loss weren't enough, the remaining wild populations of apes are threatened by infectious disease. </span> </span></font></p> <p><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">As they describe in a report in the research journal Nature, Heinz Ellerbrok of the Robert Koch-Institut, Berlin, Germany, and colleagues have been investigating an unusually high number of sudden deaths among wild chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes verus</i>) in the Taï National Park, Ivory Coast, Africa. </span> </font></p> <p><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">The anthrax bacterium <i>Bacillus anthracis</i> appears to have been the cause of death for at least six individuals, even though tropical rainforest is not a habitat previously associated with anthrax. The results suggest that epidemic diseases represent substantial threats to wild ape populations, as well as posing a hazard to human health through bushmeat consumption. </span></font></p> </b> </body>