News

Mountain Gorillas at risks of extinction infected by human virus

11.04.2011

A study recently published in the review “Emerging Infectious Diseases” has found that gorilla's living in the national parks in Africa are being infected by a RNA virus called human metapneumovirus (HMPV) that is common in humans. It provokes respiratory diseases and has proved to be fatal to some of these wild mountain gorillas, leading to the death of two individuals in 2009 in Rwanda. The diseases have become much more frequent in these gorilla populations in recent years and researchers from the United States and Africa have discovered that they can pass from humans to gorillas. Being less than 800 in the world, each mountain gorillas is critically important to the survival of their species and gorillas having close contacts to humans – such as tourists or local inhabitants - are exposed to risks, even if they live in protected national parks.