ebola and colobus

[Doug Yanega]

In article <3qi107$1gu at mark.ucdavis.edu>, fzcapit at euclid.ucdavis.edu wrote:

> The following comes from the Primate-Talk list, where I posted
> a copy of someone's thoughts regarding colobus monkeys as the
> reservoir for ebola.  Primate-Talk is a discussion list that 
> includes many of the USA's primatologists (as well as many from
> other countries), and I thought someone might have a comment
> about the ebola->colobus->chimp/human connection.
> 
> John Capitanio
> jpcapitanio at ucdavis.edu
> 
> (from jmoore at weber.ucsd.edu [ Jim Moore ])
> 
> Hi folks - re the forwarded message about scientists who can't figure
> out red colobus are a possible vector of ebola -- I contacted Craig
> Stanford (who works on RCs):
> 
> "Please see New Yorker magazine for May 22. It reports (piece by Preston who 
> wrote the
> bestseller about viruses) that the Tai ebola strain is thought by
> CDC to be carried by red colobus, or perhaps something the colobus eat.
> This was also reported on CBS news 2 weeks ago, as I told you. So please
> post this info on primate talk, or forward my message. I can tell you
> that I won't be doing any scavening studies with torn up colobus carcasses
> this field season."
> 
> Guess we're not such an obtuse community after all....  

Yes, that was me originally, and my faith in science is restored - though
*not* in the folks at Science (who neglected to include mention of this in
their article). ;-)
Thanks, incidentally, for doing the digging.
Sincerely,
-- 
Doug Yanega
Illinois Natural History Survey, Center for Biodiversity
607 E. Peabody Dr. Champaign, IL 61820  USA
"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is
    the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick