Ebola ‘kills over 5,000 gorillas’
More than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa, a study says.
Scientists
warn that, coupled with the commercial hunting of gorillas, it may be
enough to push them to extinction.The study, published in the US
journal Science, looked at gorilla colonies in Republic of Congo and
Gabon. Ebola is also blamed for many chimpanzee deaths.One of the most
virulent viruses known, Ebola has killed more than 1,000 people since
it was first recorded in 1976.Ebola causes viral haemorrhagic fever –
massive internal and external bleeding – which can kill up to 90% of
those infected.Scientists are still working on a vaccine and there is
no known cure.Ape-to-ape transmissionThe latest study, carried out by
an international team, has confirmed previous concerns about how badly
the virus is affecting gorillas.
EBOLA
One of the most virulent viral diseases
Damages blood vessels and can cause extensive bleeding, diarrhoea and shock
Killed more than 240 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1995
Transmitted by infected body fluids
Kills up to 90% of victims, depending on the strain
There is no cure
“Add
commercial hunting to the mix, and we have a recipe for rapid
ecological extinction,” the report says.”Ape species that were abundant
and widely distributed a decade ago are rapidly being reduced to
remnant populations.”The researchers, led by Magdalena Bermejo of the
University of Barcelona, focused on western gorillas, one of two
gorilla species. The other is the eastern gorilla.In 2002 and 2003,
several outbreaks of Ebola flared up in human populations in Gabon and
Congo.The researchers found a “massive die-off” in gorillas in Congo’s
Lossi Sanctuary between 2002 and 2004.”The Lossi outbreak killed about
as many gorillas as survive in the entire eastern gorilla species,” the
study says.The researchers concluded that the apes were not only
infected by other species, such as fruit bats, but were also
transmitting the virus among themselves.Ebola was passing from group to
group of the endangered animals, they found, and appeared to be
spreading faster than in humans.Outbreaks of the disease in humans have
sometimes been traced to the bushmeat trade.According to World Health
Organization figures, Ebola killed 1,200 people between the first
recorded human outbreak in 1976 and 2004.