The Ebola virus has killed some 1,300 people in Central Africa over the last 30 years. In most of these cases where it has been possible to trace the source of the outbreak, it has been associated with the consumption of contaminated apes or antelopes. But very little has been known about contagion in natural populations.
In the present study an international research team, including a group from Uppsala University in Sweden, has tracked two outbreaks and followed their spread among a gorilla population in Lossi Reservation in the Republic of Congo. The gorilla populations have been monitored by some of the scientists since 1995. As a result of this, 17 gorilla groups with a total of 238 individuals have grown accustomed to the presence of humans. However, two outbreaks of Ebola virus, one between October 2002 and January 2003 and the other between October 2003 and January 2004, led to the death of 221 of them (93%). To examine whether this high mortality rate also affected the area outside the reservation, the researchers carried out a study of a larger area (2,700km2) and found that 96 percent of the gorillas had disappeared. A total of 5,000 gorillas are estimated to have died from Ebola.
âThese figures unfortunately represent merely a portion of the area that the virus has infected, and gorillas are continuing to die in this region,â says Carles VilĂ .
Careful monitoring has revealed that the transmission between gorilla groups has probably played a key role in the spread of the disease. This also means that the researchers reject the possibility that the outbreaks were the result of a massive transmission of the virus from a reservoir (e.g. mosquitoes or bats). An important conclusion of the study is therefore that vaccinating the as yet unaffected gorillas may be a key measure to stop the spread of Ebola among gorillas.
More information: http://email.eva.mpg.de/~walsh/
Contact: Carles VilĂ , Department of Evolution, Genomics, and Systematics, Uppsala University, phone: +46 18-471 64 64; cell phone: +46 73-587 27 97; e-mail: Carles.Vilas@ebc.uu.se
22 September, 2023 - Uppsala universitet
Turnout in the general elections in 2022 fell more sharply in electoral districts that had long queues to the polling stations than in comparable districts without queuing issues. Queuing can only explain a small part of the decrease in turnout between the years 2018 and 2022, however. 87 percent of the population voted in 2018, which fell to 84 percent in 2022.
19 September, 2023 - Uppsala universitet
Stacy VanDeveer, professor in Global Governance and Human Security at the University of Massachusetts Boston becomes visiting professor in Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University. The ten-years series of visiting professorships is financed by a previous donation to Uppsala University by alumnus Niklas Zennström and Catherine Zennström through their foundation Zennström Philanthropies.
19 September, 2023 - Uppsala universitet
Stacy VanDeveer, professor i Global Governance and Human Security vid University of Massachusetts i Boston blir den sjÀtte gÀstprofessorn i klimatledarskap vid Uppsala universitet. Den tioÄriga gÀstprofessuren, dÀr en ny professor inbjuds varje eller vartannat Är, finansieras genom en tidigare donation av entreprenören Niklas Zennström och hans hustru Catherine Zennström till Uppsala universitet.
11 September, 2023 - Uppsala universitet
Horizon Europe, the European Union’s research initiative, announces âŹ150 million funding for Battery 2030+, an initiative for developing advanced green battery technology. This signifies a renewed confidence in Battery 2030+ coordinated by Uppsala University, Sweden, with the goal to make Europe the world leader in the development and production of green batteries.
Expertsvar, The Swedish Research Council, Hantverkargatan 11B, Stockholm SWEDENPhone +46(0)8 546 44 000
P.O. Box 1035, SE-101 38 Stockholm, expertsvar@vr.se
Information about cookies will open in a new window
