ebola and colobus

[fzcapit at euclid.ucdavis.edu]

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....  

Craig also notes that since RCs are a favored bushmeat for humans
(I find spotnose guenons tastier, myself) that if they were a REGULAR
reservoir, ebola outbreaks oughta be more common.  But ...

cheers
Jim
Jim Moore   Anthropology-0101/UCSD/La Jolla CA 92093   jjmoore at ucsd.edu