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Home • Newsletter • Meeting Information • Membership • Officers |
| 2007 | ||
| Shigella - 2007 | ||
Lions, and Tigers, and Shigella, oh my!By Sarah Sheldon |
2007 Article Links Benefits of ASM Membership | |
Only at zoos can visitors see kangaroos, rhinoceroses, condors, and capybaras. However, this experience has its drawbacks, since the assortment of exotic animals brings a vast array of diseases and infections to the zoo. Bats host rabies, the herpes virus causes problems for elephant breeding programs, big cats get bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) from their raw beef dinners, and Shigella infects most zoo animals. To prevent outbreaks, zoos must maintain strict preventive measures to keep animals, staff, and visitors safe. Zoos are inherently designed to prevent infection. Each enclosure includes an off-exhibit holding area where sick animals can stay away from the public and have their health monitored. Zookeepers clean these holding areas and exhibits daily. Kirsten Theisen, a former primate caregiver, explained the disinfection measures of cleaning “with bleach, anti-virals, and biocides in rotation.” Animal exhibits are distanced from visitors, and areas of contact are strictly monitored. In addition, contact with some animals is prohibited. For example, snakes can have Salmonella without testing positive as carriers, and contact with primates is strongly cautioned for the health of both the animals and the visitors. According to Theisen, “the strep [infection] that gives [people] a sore throat can kill an ape in very little time.” |
Zoos are also beginning to organize their exhibits by location of animal origin instead of by animal type, which prevents naïve animals from catching air-borne infections from closely related neighbors. Doctor Mike Richards, a veterinarian at the Rio Grande Zoo, knows that zoo animals “are subject to diseases just like people,” and often receive many familiar vaccinations. Wolves, for example, receive the same distemper shot as pet dogs, and medical doctors administer the same childhood immunizations to baby primates as they do to children. Zoos also help combat disease outbreaks among the public. In 1999, health officials assumed St. Louis encephalitis, a North American disease that affects people but not birds, was spreading in New York. However, birds at the Bronx Zoo were dying off. Through necropsies and observations the zoo realized the disease only affecting the New World species. Because of the zoo’s efforts, the disease was correctly diagnosed as West Nile, a new disease in North America. Similarly, Theisen believes that zoos will be one of the first places to encounter avian influenza in this country. However, zoos are already implementing changes and creating plans to keep visitors, staff, and animals safe if this happens. Sarah Sheldon is a student at the University of New Mexico studying biology and English. |
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Rio Grande Branch of the American Society for Microbiology |