Washington: Some gorillas at the Atlanta Zoo in the South Georgia state of the US have tested the positive Covid-19 virus, the zoo said.
Western lowland gorillas were tested after the guards saw them coughing and other symptoms, he said.
The initial test showed that they were positive for the SARS-COV-2 virus which caused Covid-19 and the zoo said in a statement on Friday it was awaiting the results of the confirmation test from the Laboratory of Veterinary Services in Ames, Iowa.
Gorillas are at risk of complications being treated with monoclonal antibodies and the entire population of zoos consisting of 20 gorillas are being tested.
“The teams are very close to monitoring the affected gorillas and hope they will do a total recovery.
They receive the best treatment,” said Sam Rivera, senior director of animal health at Atlanta Zoo.
“We are very worried that this infection occurs, especially considering that our safety protocols when working with large apes and other vulnerable animal species, and throughout the pandemic have been, very tight.” The zoo said it believed that gorillas were infected by asymptomatic guards, although employees were fully vaccinated and wore private protection equipment.
“While humans are known to be able to transmit viruses to animals such as gorillas, and these cases have occurred at other zoos, there is currently no data to show that zoo animals can transmit viruses to humans,” said the zoo.
However, said visitors did not pose a threat because the distance between them and primate habitat.
Atlanta’s constitutions report that 13 infected zoo gorillas, including 60-year-old Ozzie, the oldest male gorilla in captivity.
Rivera told Ozzie’s paper showing mild symptoms.
“We don’t feel that we are out of the forest,” he added.
“We take it every day.” The Atlanta Zoo said it had been authorized to use the Zoetis Covid vaccine, which was developed for animals, and will analyzed gorillas when they recovered.
The zoo said it would also vaccinate his orangutans, Sumatran tigers, African lions and leopards.
Covid-19 has also been known to infect domestic cats and dogs.