Gorillas at San Diego zoo diagnosed with Covid- 19

Three have shown symptoms of the respiratory virus

As many as eight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are presumed to have contracted Covid- 19 from a human handler after one of the animals tested positive, marking the first known transmission of the virus to apes, zoo officials said.

Three among the band of critically endangered western lowland gorillas at the sprawling wildlife park have shown symptoms of the respiratory virus, such as coughing, though none appears severely ill, and all are expected to fully recover, the zoo said.

Laboratory analysis of a faecal sample collected last Wednesday from one of two gorillas initially seen coughing detected the presence of the virus two days later, zoo spokesman Andrew James said.

Results confirmed

The positive results were confirmed on Monday by the US Department of Agriculture ( USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories.

While the test was definitive for only a single animal, all eight gorillas are presumed by zoo officials to have been exposed to and possibly infected with SAR- CoV- 2, the scientific name of the virus that causes Covid- 19. “Gorilla troops live together in both our zoological natural habitat and the wild, and we have to assume, as we do with human families, that all members of the family group have been exposed,” the zoo said in a fact sheet.

James added that human style collection of mucus or saliva samples from individual gorillas is considered too risky for the apes.

Reuters Gorillas sit after two of their troop tested positive for Covid- 19 after falling ill, and a third gorilla appears also to be symptomatic, at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in California.