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A bacterium has been killing chimpanzees in Sierra Leone. Scientists are worried that the said bacterium could eventually spread to humans.
(Photo : Dominik Scythe on Unsplash)
Researchers led by a team at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, published a study on Wednesday, announcing their findings in the journal Nature Communications.
The study showed that fifty-six (56) chimpanzees died from a similarly mysterious illness at the Tacugama Chimpanzee sanctuary and wildlife reserve. They covered the deaths between 2005 and 2018. The disease causes both gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms that are not subtle, lead researcher Tony Goldberg said. The chimpanzees would stagger and stumble, vomit, and have diarrhea, he said. Sometimes they d go to bed healthy and be dead in the morning.
Researchers worry chimpanzee-killing virus could jump to humans next
By Julia Musto
Scientists are concerned that a recently discovered bacterium linked to the deaths
published a study on Wednesday, announcing their findings in the journal Nature Communications.
Fifty-six chimpanzees died from the previously mysterious illness at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary between 2005 and 2018.
The disease causes The chimpanzees would stagger and stumble, vomit, and have diarrhea, he said. Sometimes they’d go to bed healthy and be dead in the morning.
After several years spent screening DNA and samples from the primates, Goldberg s graduate student Leah A. Owens isolated a bacterium that was in 68% of the samples from sick chimpanzees.
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Scientists are concerned that a recently discovered bacterium linked to the deaths of chimpanzees in Sierra Leone could spread to humans.
Researchers led by a team at the University of Wisconsin, Madison published a study on Wednesday, announcing their findings in the journal Nature Communications.
Fifty-six chimpanzees died from the previously mysterious illness at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary between 2005 and 2018.
The disease causes both gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms that are not subtle, lead researcher Tony Goldberg told Science. The chimpanzees would stagger and stumble, vomit, and have diarrhea, he said. Sometimes they’d go to bed healthy and be dead in the morning.