A 12th monkey kept at a zoological garden in central Hong Kong has died, with a necropsy underway to determine whether it succumbed to the same bacterial infection that killed 11 monkeys from the same zoo. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), which manages the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens where the primates were kept, announced that a De Brazza’s monkey had died on Tuesday. The animal had been under surveillance and in isolation on October 13, when an initial eight monkeys were found dead.
It is the 12th monkey kept at the zoological garden to die since then . In its statement on Tuesday night, the LCSD confirmed that “the cause of death of the 11 animals [which died] earlier is sepsis induced by bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei .” It added: “Similar lesions were also found in the tissues of relevant organs of the 12th monkey that died today.
Pathological diagnosis and testing are in progress.” Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, an infectious disease that affects animals and humans, and spreads primarily through contact with contaminated soil, air, or water. According to the Centre for Health Protection, “melioidosis is an endemic disease in Hong Kong and melioidosis cases have been recorded in Hong Kong each year.
” Michael Rivera, a biological anthropologist at the University of Hong Kong, told HKFP by email last Friday that cases of fatal melioidosis infections in animals had been reported around the world, with rece.
