Title
Potential for ebola transmission between gorilla and chimpanzee social groups
Author(s)
Walsh, P.D.; Breuer, T.; Sanz, C.; Morgan, D.; Doran-Sheehy, D.
Published
2007
Publisher
American Naturalist
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1086/513494
Abstract
Over the past decade Ebola hemorrhagic fever has emerged repeatedly in Gabon and Congo, causing numerous human outbreaks and massive die-offs of gorillas and chimpanzees. Why Ebola has emerged so explosively remains poorly understood. Previous studies have tended to focus on exogenous factors such as habitat disturbance and climate change as drivers of Ebola emergence while downplaying the contribution of transmission between gorilla or chimpanzee social groups. Here we report recent observations on behaviors that pose a risk of transmission among gorilla groups and between gorillas and chimpanzees. These observations support a reassessment of ape-to-ape transmission as an amplifier of Ebola outbreaks. © 2007 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
Keywords
climate change; disease transmission; environmental disturbance; epidemiology; primate; viral disease; animal; animal behavior; animal disease; ape disease; article; Central African Republic; comparative study; disease transmission; gorilla; microbiology; observation; Pan troglodytes; physiology; social behavior; virus hemorrhagic fever; Animals; Ape Diseases; Behavior, Animal; Central African Republic; Disease Transmission, Horizontal; Gorilla gorilla; Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola; Africa; Central Africa; Congo; Gabon; Sub-Saharan Africa; Pan; Ape decline; Disease network; Emergent disease; Epidemiology; Frugivory

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PUB12128