Human Viruses Put Great Apes at Risk

German researchers said they’ve found direct evidence of virus transmission from humans to wild apes.

A report published in the journal Current Biology said it has long been suspected that respiratory disease introduced by humans has put apes at risk.

Tissue samples taken from chimpanzees that had died in a series of outbreaks dating back to 1999 tested positive for human respiratory syncytial virus and human metapneumovirus. The report said viral strains sampled from the chimpanzees were closely related to pandemic strains concurrently circulating in human populations as far away as China and Argentina, suggesting recent introduction from humans into the chimpanzees.

We need to be much more proactive about instituting strict hygiene precautions at all ape tourism and research sites, senior author Fabian Leendertz, a wildlife epidemiologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, said Friday in a release.

The study found that the health risk may be balanced somewhat by the finding that chimpanzees were less likely to be killed by poachers when there were researchers in the area.