9 monkeys who died in Hong Kong’s oldest zoo in two days this week had been contaminated with an endemic illness, presumably after some digging work close to their cages, officers mentioned on Friday.
Secretary for Tradition, Sports activities and Tourism Kevin Yeung mentioned in a press briefing that the animals within the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens contracted melioidosis and the illness later brought on them to develop sepsis.
Yeung confused that such infections usually happen by means of contact with contaminated soil and water and that there’s usually no hazard to people from contact with contaminated animals or folks.
“We’re saddened by the passing of the 9 monkeys,” he mentioned.
Eight monkeys have been discovered lifeless on Sunday, and one other died Monday after displaying uncommon habits. The deceased animals have been a De Brazza’s monkey, a typical squirrel monkey, 4 white-faced sakis and three cotton-top tamarins—a species listed as critically endangered by the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature.
In accordance with Hong Kong’s Middle for Well being Safety, melioidosis is brought on by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, which is widespread in soils and muddy water.
Yeung mentioned the park carried out digging work to restore some irrigation pipes beneath the flower mattress close to the monkey cages in early October and that the deaths is perhaps associated to that.
He mentioned the monkeys might need come into contact with the micro organism after the park’s employees walked into their cages with presumably contaminated footwear. One other chance is that some contaminated monkeys had shut contact with different monkeys, he mentioned.
“The incubation interval for melioidosis in primates is a couple of week and this matched with the interval after the soil digging work,” he mentioned.
Edwin Tsui, the controller of the middle, mentioned the incident solely occurred in a single zone and its affect on Hong Kong residents could be very low.
Yeung on Monday held an pressing interdepartmental assembly concerning the deaths with the Leisure and Cultural Providers Division, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Division and the Division of Well being.
One other De Brazza’s monkey additionally displayed uncommon habits and urge for food however offiicials mentioned its situation remained secure on Friday.
The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens—the oldest park within the former British colony—totally opened to the general public in 1871. It’s a uncommon city oasis within the downtown Central district of the monetary hub, which returned to Chinese language rule in 1997.
© 2024 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
Quotation:
9 monkeys who died in Hong Kong’s zoo in 2 days had been contaminated with melioidosis, officers say (2024, October 18)
retrieved 18 October 2024
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2024-10-monkeys-died-hong-kong-zoo.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Aside from any truthful dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for data functions solely.