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Scientists See Leprosy in Wild Chimpanzees for the First Time - Gizmodo
Oct 14, 2021 45 secs
On Wednesday, researchers detailed finding cases of leprosy among two separate groups of chimpanzees in West Africa—the first ever documented among wild chimps.

The origin of these outbreaks is unknown, but it’s thought that the disease remains rare in the wider chimp community.

Our history with leprosy, also called Hansen’s disease, stretches back to Biblical times.

Improvements in sanitation and the availability of antibiotics have made leprosy a rare disease globally.

Looking back through tissue samples obtained after a chimp’s death, they identified a chimp named Zora whose blood contained traces of leprosy bacteria before her death in 2009 from a leopard attack.

Neither chimp community spends much time around humans, either, making the already difficult process of transmission less plausible.

The good news is that chimp leprosy appears to be rare.

They say more research is needed to understand the spread and origins of leprosy among wild chimp populations.

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