[1]
Date: Tue 13 Jul 2010
Source: Nature 466, 302-303 (2010) [edited]
<http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100713/full/466302a.html>
Japanese monkey deaths puzzle
------------------------------
Scientists from Japan's premier primate research centre are
struggling to reassure the public that a mysterious illness killing
their monkeys poses no threat to humans. Almost a decade after it 1st
appeared, scientists from Kyoto University's Primate Research
Institute (PRI) [also abbreviated KUPRI] described the disease and
their unsuccessful search for a cause in an online publication on 1
Jul 2010 and in a press release on 7 Jul 2010. But their account
leaves other researchers hungry for details.
In the 1st outbreak to hit the PRI in Inuyama, near Nagoya, between
July 2001 and July 2002, 7 Japanese macaques (_Macaca fuscata_) fell
ill and 6 of them died from what the institute scientists
provisionally call a 'haemorrhagic syndrome.' Symptoms included
anorexia, lethargy, pallor and nasal haemorrhaging. Autopsies
revealed bleeding in the lungs and intestines. Genetic, bacterial and
toxicological tests failed to pinpoint a cause, and after the
outbreak ran its course, operations at the institute returned to
normal. But between March 2008 and April 2010, another 39 cases
appeared in the same species. Of those, 25 died of the disease and 13
were humanely killed. Only one monkey survived each outbreak.
On 1 Jul 2010, an institute committee set up after the 2nd outbreak
published its findings in the online version of the Japanese-language
journal Primate Research (Kyoto University Primate Research Institute
Disease Control Committee Primate Res. 26, 69-71; 2010). The
committee tested blood, faeces and tissues from the diseased monkeys
for 6 bacteria and 16 viruses. The tests, which included PCR
analysis, turned up nothing that could explain the deaths. Francois
Villinger, director of pathology at the Yerkes National Primate
Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, says that Japanese laboratories
tend to have excellent diagnostic capabilities: "Therefore I have
confidence in the fact that the illness is probably not due to any of
the known agents inducing haemorrhagic fevers."
PRI director Tetsuro Matsuzawa spoke out against suggestions in the
local media that the disease could spread to humans or other animals.
At the 7 Jul 2010 press conference, he stressed that none of the
other primate species at the institute, which houses more than 1200
animals from 13 species, including chimpanzees, marmosets and
crab-eating macaques, has contracted the syndrome. The humans who
handled the monkeys also show no symptoms. "I don't like the
headlines in the news media," he says. "We think that the
haemorrhagic syndrome is due to a species-specific pathogen of the
Japanese monkeys."
Matsuzawa says that the institute did not publish its findings
earlier because it feared causing panic in the wider population.
Cases are still occurring, but following the use of disinfectants and
the isolation of sick monkeys, the pace has slowed to one case in May
and one in June. Matsuzawa is holding back some data for a more
detailed future publication and would not answer Nature's questions
about whether his group is also probing possible environmental
causes, which bacteria and viruses have been tested for, and what
analysis of the 2 surviving monkeys has revealed.
By screening the 790 remaining Japanese macaques for other viruses
and bacteria and running genetic tests, Matsuzawa hopes to pin down
the cause of the syndrome and to create a test for early diagnosis.
He says that he is looking for collaborators, and animal-pathogen
researchers contacted by Nature are certainly eager to learn more
about the illness. Primate disease specialist Sonia Altizer of the
University of Georgia in Athens wonders whether any of the animals
were recently captured in the wild, where they could have picked up
the infection, and whether animals were housed singly or in groups.
"Knowing the possible contacts between animals and the chronological
pattern of illness or deaths might also help determine whether this
was indeed an infectious agent, and the possible routes of
transmission," she says.
She also asks what measures the human workers were taking before the
outbreaks to minimize transmission of infectious agents between
monkeys and humans. "Presumably there would be some pretty careful
measures in place that would limit human exposure to any contaminant
or pathogen," she says, "so saying that humans are not susceptible to
me seems premature."
[Byline: David Cyranoski]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The above article adds some clarity to the translated data included
in our previous postings. However, some details remain unpublished,
particularly the identity of the "6 bacteria and 16 viruses" and the
toxins which are claimed to have been excluded by the applied tests. - Mod.AS]
******
[2]
Date: Fri 16 Jul 2010
Source: Chunichi Shimbun [Trans. from Japanese, edited]
<http://www.chunichi.co.jp/s/article/2010071690091309.html>
KUPRI decided to kill some monkeys in affected cages
-----------------------------------------------------
KUPRI, Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute in Inuyama,
Aichi Prefecture, Japan, decided to stepwisely kill some monkeys held
in the same cages where death occurred earlier.
Hirohisa Hirai, deputy director of the Institute, said on Thursday
[16 Jul 2010]: "We said to JMC [see commentary] that their demands
could not be accepted. If all [potentially exposed] monkeys are
eliminated, we shall not be able to discover the cause of the
disease. To contain infection, we intend to kill contacted individuals."
Akira Katoh, director of World Primate Zoo [WPZ; see commentary],
said: "we thought it was important to eliminate all ["down to zero"]
monkeys in the Institute and told them so."
In addition to the 2 close facilities [JMC and WPZ], KUPRI is also
surrounded by a forest which is the habitat of wild monkeys.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[KUPRI has been recently exposed to demands to undertake severe
biosecurity measures, including culling of all its (800) primates, by
2 adjacent institutions: the 'Japan Monkey Centre (JMC)', dealing
with primate research, conservation and education, and the 'World
Primate Zoo (WPZ)', a zoological garden specialising in primates,
which exhibits about 650 individuals of more than 70 species of
living primates. WPZ is regarded as the world's largest collection. - Mod.AS]
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