Claim: Human virus linked to mountain gorilla deaths.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Mountain gorilla
text: from tourists and locals are at a continued risk of disease cross-transmission (Lilly et al., 2002) – this is in spite of attempts to enforce a rule that humans and gorillas be separated by a distance of 7 metres at all times to prevent this. With a similar genetic makeup to humans and an immune system that has not evolved to cope with human disease, this poses a serious conservation threat. Indeed, according to some researchers, infectious diseases (predominantly respiratory) are responsible for about 20% of sudden deaths in mountain gorilla populations. With the implementation of a successful ecotourism program

title: Magdalena Bermejo
text: in a population of 143. Her work was described in a National Geographic video of 2001. Between October 2002 and January 2003, at the same time that humans in nearby villages were beginning to die from the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus disease (ZEBOV), 130 of the 143 gorillas died. The researchers monitored seven more social groups, and found that 91 of 95 gorillas died between October 2003 and January 2004. Extrapolating from these results, they estimated that in a area around the Lossi Sanctuary, about 5000 gorillas died. Because of the high mortality rate, the International Union for

title: Magdalena Bermejo
text: Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the western lowland gorilla as Critically Endangered, one step away from Extinct in the Wild. Initially, opinions were divided on whether ZEBOV was the cause of the deaths, and if so whether the disease was spread via a reservoir in other species (for example, bats or birds) or by gorilla-to-gorilla transmission. Out of twelve carcasses that Bermejo and her group examined, nine tested positive for Ebola. By the lag time between deaths in neighboring social groups, they were able to show that the disease mainly spread from social group to social group. Based on these

title: Magdalena Bermejo
text: results, other scientists have argued for a vaccination campaign to protect other gorillas. Bermejo has continued to study gorillas after the Ebola outbreak. In 2009, she found a concentration of them near Odzala National Park. Six social groups have been found, two of which are habituated. Among the foci of the study are the impact of Ebola and interactions with other species (chimpanzees and humans). After the loss of gorillas to Ebola, Bermejo began to create community projects to help both the gorillas and the people in nearby villages. With support from Sabine Plattner African Charities, development of the nearby

title: Western lowland gorilla
text: of four phylogenetic lineages, which at some point in time have independently gone through cross-species transmission of the SIV (simian immune-deficiency virus). The simian immunodeficiency virus infected various African primates such as apes, gorillas and chimpanzees. Disease has also been a factor in the survival of the western lowland gorilla. The Ebola epizootic in western and central Africa has caused more than 90% mortality rate in western lowland gorillas. From 2003–2004, two epizootics infected the western lowland gorilla, which caused two thirds of their population to disappear. The outbreak was monitored in the Republic of Congo by Magdalena Bermejo and

title: Monkeypox virus
text: deaths occurred. Monkeypox virus Monkeypox virus (MPV) is a double-stranded DNA, zoonotic virus and a species of the genus "Orthopoxvirus" in the family Poxviridae. It is one of the human orthopoxviruses that includes variola (VARV), cowpox (CPX), and vaccinia (VACV) viruses. But it is not a direct ancestor to, nor a direct descendent of, the variola virus which causes smallpox. The monkeypox virus causes a disease that is similar to smallpox, but with a milder rash and lower death rate. Variation in virulence of the virus has been observed in isolates from Central Africa where strains are more virulent than

title: Mountain gorilla
text: borne, gastrointestinal parasites such as "Cryptosporidium" sp., "Microsporidia" sp., and "Giardia" sp. are genetically identical when found in livestock, humans, and gorillas; particularly along theborder of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Another example of human induced disease is Tuberculosis; Kabagambe et al. found that as high as 11% of cattle in Rwanda suffered from this affliction. War and civil unrest: Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been politically unstable and beleaguered by war and civil unrest over the last decades. Simulation modeling, Byers et al. (2003) has suggested that times of war and unrest have negative impacts

title: WildlifeDirect
text: that the financial support can go to where it was intended in its entirety. Their core costs are provided for separately through grants, primarily from the European Union . Mountain gorillas In January 2007, Congo Rangers in charge of gorilla protection from Virunga National Park reported through their blogs with WildlifeDirect that one solitary male, silverback mountain gorilla had been killed and butchered. A week later WildlifeDirect reported the death of another male mountain gorilla, later identified as Karema, in the same area. His remains, principally his head, had been dumped in a pit latrine. WildlifeDirect's intervention in the gorillas

title: Western lowland gorilla
text: strain of HIV-1. The HIV-1 virus exhibits phylogeographic clustering, which is due to large rivers. This clustering allows us to pinpoint the probable geographic origins of two of the human virus clades. In the southern part of Cameroon, the populations of western lowland gorillas have had examinations of their feces. Out of 2,934 gorilla samples, 70 reacted with at least one HIV-1 antigen. These samples came from four field sites, all located in southern Cameroon. The origin of AIDS has been linked to a virus known to infect more than 40 species of nonhuman primates in Africa. HIV-1, is composed

title: Ebola virus disease
text: such books admitted that they lacked medical credentials and were not technically qualified to give medical advice. The World Health Organization and the United Nations stated that such misinformation had contributed to the spread of the disease. Ebola has a high mortality rate among primates. Frequent outbreaks of Ebola may have resulted in the deaths of 5,000 gorillas. Outbreaks of Ebola may have been responsible for an 88% decline in tracking indices of observed chimpanzee populations in the 420 km Lossi Sanctuary between 2002 and 2003. Transmission among chimpanzees through meat consumption constitutes a significant risk factor, whereas contact between

title: Bushmeat
text: the Ebola virus in the Congo Basin and in Gabon in the 1990s have been associated with the butchering of apes and consumption of their meat. Bushmeat hunters in Central Africa infected with the human T-lymphotropic virus were closely exposed to wild primates. Results of research on wild chimpanzees in Cameroon indicate that they are naturally infected with the simian foamy virus and constitute a reservoir of HIV-1, a precursor of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans. There are several distinct strains of HIV, indicating that this cross-species transfer has occurred several times. Researchers have shown that HIV originated

title: Gorilla
text: none in zoos. Threats to gorilla survival include habitat destruction and poaching for the bushmeat trade. In 2004, a population of several hundred gorillas in the Odzala National Park, Republic of Congo was essentially wiped out by the Ebola virus. A 2006 study published in "Science" concluded more than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa. The researchers indicated in conjunction with commercial hunting of these apes, the virus creates "a recipe for rapid ecological extinction". Conservation efforts include the Great Apes Survival Project, a partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme

title: Ebola virus disease
text: the animals, such as touching dead bodies and grooming, is not. Recovered gorilla carcasses have contained multiple Ebola virus strains, suggesting multiple introductions of the virus. Bodies decompose quickly and carcasses are not infectious after 3 to 4 days. Contact between gorilla groups is rare, suggesting that transmission among gorilla groups is unlikely, and that outbreaks result from transmission between viral reservoirs and animal populations.<ref name="doi10.1126/science.1092528"></ref> In 2012 it was demonstrated that the virus can travel without contact from pigs to nonhuman primates, although the same study failed to achieve transmission in that manner between primates. Dogs may become infected

title: Orthohantavirus
text: by hantavirus particles." Human infections of hantaviruses have almost entirely been linked to human contact with rodent excrement; in 2005 human-to-human transmission of the Andes virus was reported in South America. Hantavirus is named for the Hantan River area in South Korea where an early outbreak was observed, and was isolated in 1976 by Karl M. Johnson and Ho-Wang Lee. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a group of clinically similar illnesses caused by species of hantaviruses from the family Bunyaviridae. It is also known as Korean hemorrhagic fever, epidemic hemorrhagic fever, and nephropathis epidemica. The species that cause

title: Western lowland gorilla
text: the Congo. However, gorillas remain vulnerable to Ebola, deforestation and poaching. In 2002 and 2003, there was an Ebola outbreak in the Lossi sanctuary population, and in 2004, there was an Ebola outbreak in the Lokoué forest clearing in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, both in the Republic of the Congo. The Ebola outbreak in the Lokoué forest clearing negatively affected the individuals living in groups and the adult females more than the solitary males, resulting in an increase in the proportion of solitary males to those living in groups. This population decreased from 377 individuals to 38 individuals two years after

title: Mountain gorilla
text: on the habitat and populations of mountain gorillas. For example, events such as 1994’s Rwanda genocide would take place approximately every 30 years, with each event lasting for 10 years. Due to the increase in human encounters, aggressive and passive alike, this would result in a rise in mortality rates and a decrease in reproductive success. More direct impacts from conflict can also be seen. Kanyamibwa notes that there were reports that mines were placed along trails in the Volcanos National Park, and that many gorillas were killed as a result. Pressure from habitat destruction in the form of logging

title: Lone Star virus
text: The virus is shown to have a cytopathic effect on both human (HeLa) and monkey (vero) cells. As part of the minimal research that has been done, death occurred in mice that were infected with the virus. No human cases have been found thus far, however evidence points to the fact that it does have pathogenic effects in humans. This means this disease could likely be something that affects humans in the future, or has had an effect, but has not been documented, or traced back to this source. it has a Biosafety level of 2. After the virus was

title: Ebola virus disease
text: in Asia. Between 1976 and 1998, in 30,000 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and arthropods sampled from regions of EBOV outbreaks, no Ebola virus was detected apart from some genetic traces found in six rodents (belonging to the species "Mus setulosus" and "Praomys") and one shrew ("Sylvisorex ollula") collected from the Central African Republic. However, further research efforts have not confirmed rodents as a reservoir. Traces of EBOV were detected in the carcasses of gorillas and chimpanzees during outbreaks in 2001 and 2003, which later became the source of human infections. However, the high rates of death in these species resulting

title: Virus (novel)
text: in the Alps. Although some local communities have been reporting small animals suddenly dropping dead in their area, an Italian matinee idol's death in an auto crash in early March sparks media attention. His girlfriend dies shortly after a press conference eight days later, but not before she reveals that the actor died of a heart attack just before the accident despite being in good health. Several European countries are also reporting sudden deaths of important livestock. Over the second quarter, outbreaks of influenza and polio take place around the world, and news of random heart attacks even hog the

title: Basankusu
text: serious outbreak of monkeypox, which posed a grave threat to public health, affecting human populations living in Basankusu. A study of individual cases and the spread of the epidemic shows clearly that human consumption of apes found dead in the forest was a salient factor in the outbreak. There have been outbreaks of whooping cough, some cases with fatal results. In June 2010 an unidentified illness killed fourteen people in the nearby village of Songo. Basankusu is an important staging post for conservation projects, for example, those relating to the bonobo. The town falls within the western limits of what