Oftentimes, when we image species
crossover events, it’s from a human perspective. SIV becomes HIV. Ebola jumps
from bats and devastates human communities. MERS arises from domestic camels.
We don’t often think about the opposite: human diseases that cross into other
species. These “homoses” can cause just as much destruction as zoonotic diseases
cause in human populations, and recently, an example of just that was
discovered in Uganda.
Uganda’s Kibale National Park is the
home of a large population of chimpanzees. Recently, local chimpanzees were
experiencing an epidemic of severe respiratory infection of unknown etiology. The
outbreak infected most of the chimps in the region, and it had a rather high
death rate. In one studied population of 56, 5 chimps died. Scientists were
quick to investigate this rapidly spreading infection, but were dismayed to
find that the culprit was Rhinovirus C, a thoroughly human virus that causes
the common cold. Researchers have since discovered that chimps are genetically
predisposed to have problems with rhinoviruses, which would explain the severe
effects of this epidemic. This is an example of another human-related threat to
the continued existence of chimpanzees in the region.
- Cole Holderman
Source:
1. Science News Article: Chimpanzee deaths in Uganda
pinned on human cold virus: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171213130223.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment