JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has hit a part of the world famous for its gorilla population. Gorillas are, in fact, very susceptible to the lethal virus. While the Ebola response is firmly focused on helping the human population, there are also efforts to protect the other primates. NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports.
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: Mountain gorillas only live in the corner of the world where the DRC meets Uganda and Rwanda. That's the same general area as the Ebola outbreak. In the 1980s, there were only a couple hundred mountain gorillas left in the world. Now there are well over a thousand, says Dawn Zimmerman, a wildlife veterinarian at Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution.
DAWN ZIMMERMAN: The mountain gorillas are arguably one of the most successful conservation stories of the last century.
EMANUEL: But, she says, one virus could turn this success into a tragedy. She published a study in the journal Nature a few years ago.
ZIMMERMAN: We modeled if Ebola entered that population from just a single infected individual that fewer than 20% would be expected to survive past a hundred days.
EMANUEL: This is based on data from the early 2000s when Ebola hit the western lowland gorillas. Death rates reached as high as 98%, and the world's gorilla population was reduced by about a third. Zimmerman says the impact is long-lasting since the reproduction rate is pretty slow and the population isn't that big.
ZIMMERMAN: Populations likely don't recover for decades. And genetically, they are impacted for centuries. It is mind-blowing, and that's why there's so much concern about it getting into the population.
EMANUEL: While gorillas might get Ebola from bats in the area, it's believed the virus can also jump between gorilla and human populations when they come into contact with one another. Ebola vaccines are thought to work well on gorillas. After all, they were tested on nonhuman primates before being approved for people. But for the current strain of Ebola circulating, there's no vaccine. That's one reason Emmanuel de Merode says it's lucky the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak right now isn't too close to the mountain gorilla population. De Merode heads Virunga National Park in the DRC. The park spans almost 200 miles top to bottom. The outbreak is mostly in the north and the gorillas are in the south. He has a team of about 200 park rangers near the gorillas.
EMMANUEL DE MERODE: The job of those rangers is to ensure that there isn't any contact.
EMANUEL: That work is made easier because there's currently no tourism allowed due to the ongoing violent conflict and the outbreak.
DE MERODE: There is some level of poaching going on in that area, but the risk is relatively limited.
EMANUEL: That's why the park's main Ebola response is to build screening posts and check all travelers for signs of Ebola. The goal is that the park can act as a natural buffer that contains the virus. De Merode says the primary concern and the best way to protect the primates right now is to stop Ebola from spreading further among people. Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR News.
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