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Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002
Posted by: Dominick Ninivaggi (Dominick.Ninivaggi@co.suffolk.ny.us)

This makes you wonder whether non-human primates are infected in the original haunts of WNV and, if so, does illness result?

CBC News Online reported Nov 22, 2002 that a Barbary macaque died from WNV infection at the Toronto Zoo. This appears to be the first non-experimental mortality resulting from WNV of a non-human primate in the Western Hemisphere. Amos, the 25-year-old Barbary macaque, was put to sleep in August 2002 after becoming very ill. Autopsy results were just released on Nov 22, 2002. Amos was thought to have been one of the oldest Barbary macaques in the world and, just as with humans, his age made him more susceptible to WNV-disease.

"On the whole, the picture of West Nile is like it is in people," said Dr. Ian Barker, a professor at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph. "It is only the rare individual that gets infected, and only the rare individual who dies." However, Toronto Zoo officials are looking into expanding their animal vaccination program to cover all 5000 animals at the zoo, having previously vaccinated their birds, zebras and rhinos. WNV has now been detected in about 230 species, including horses, birds, reindeer, and even alligators.

The Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus) is a close relative to the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), which is a principal subject of biomedical research. Dale Reddick (who sent posting to ProMED) notes that given the death of Amos, it may be advisable to have captive populations of non-human primates vaccinated against WNV.

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This information is edited from a posting to ProMED-mail, a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, which maintain a searchable archive on the web at http://www.promedmail.org. News source CBC Online, http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/22/apedead021122, posting sent by Dale Reddick dereddick@islc.net.

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