SHOULD sneezing wild apes be given antibiotics? That鈥檚 the dilemma facing biologists in Africa, who have confirmation that wild chimps are dying from human respiratory diseases.
Fabian Leendertz of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, Germany, runs a chimp health project in the Tai forest in Ivory Coast. Leendertz and colleagues found either human respiratory syncytial virus, or human metapneumovirus, in apes that died during outbreaks of respiratory disease between 1999 and 2005, as well as pathogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus. The viruses commonly cause cold symptoms in human adults, and can be serious in children (Current Biology, .
Close contact with apes used to humans is thought to be the cause of the infections. The trouble is reduced human contact will leave Africa鈥檚 great apes vulnerable to an even bigger threat 鈥� poachers. For the apes, the 鈥渃hoice鈥� is between the poacher and the plague.
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鈥淩educed human contact with Africa鈥檚 great apes will leave them vulnerable to poachers鈥�
鈥淲e must decide how much we have to invasively treat the wild apes,鈥� says Leendertz, who says that, even with the disease risk, on balance it is best for the chimps that research and ecotourism continues.
These industries bring prosperity to local people, so they protect chimps and their habitat, Leendertz says. 鈥淲e have the highest density of chimps around the research and tourist sites. Without research, our site would probably have none left.鈥�
