Coronavirus testing involves sealing the human nose for an active virus, a proven approach to controlling the spread of COVID-19.
A control approach is now being used in elephants at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, but in a species with much larger nostrils and for another virus.
The new DNA testing lab at the zoo’s site is one of only 4 at the country’s zoos and was created, in part, after the zoo lost Beco, a 13-year-old Asian elephant last year, to a mysterious disease affecting Asia and Africa. . elephants in the wild and in zoos. Known as elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus, or VHEF, it is fatal to young elephants.
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Beco came to the organization elderly to contract the disease when he became visibly lethargic in June. Despite competitive treatment, he died within days.
His death, like that of any animal at the zoo, is troubling, Dr. Brown said. Priya Bapodra-Villaverde, chief veterinarian at the zoo.
“From an institutional and parent standpoint, one (death) is one too many,” he said.
The zoo’s strategy uses the same polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests as humans, allowing veterinarians to diagnose infectious diseases and provide genetic information. Early detection of the virus is essential, Bapodra-Villaverde said.
The zoo has seven elephants, 4 females and 3 males. These come with Frankie, the youngest, born on June 16, two days before Beco’s death. With the new laboratory, the elephant is examined at least once a week.
Instead of taking samples, blood samples are taken and elephant trunk washing is taken, which can alert veterinarians to the active virus. Elephants dip the tip of their trunks into a container filled with saline, rinsing the solution in each nostril, Bapodra-Villaverde said. The samples are then sent to the laboratory.
The generation provides the zoo herd with “the most productive resources imaginable to ensure their well-being,” said Tom Schmid, the zoo’s president and CEO.
Previously, the zoo sent blood samples to the National Elephant Herpes Virus Laboratory at the National Institute of Conservation Biology and the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington, D. C. , where confirmatory testing for the virus was conducted.
“The time stored through the new lab on site is invaluable and an incredibly vital advantage for elephants,” Bapodra-Villaverde said. “Protecting the elephants in our care is a very sensible priority and having an on-site lab particularly reduces waiting time for vital verification purposes and allows us to test VHF samples as needed. “
Since the lab became fully operational in recent weeks, the zoo tested blood samples on its high-risk elephants twice a week and conducted weekly trunk washes throughout the herd.
The new lab is located in the 17,000-square-foot expansion of the Mel Dodge and C Animal Health Center. Joseph Cross, finished in 2017. The lab prices were $50,000 and will require an additional $15,000 according to the year. This will be funded, in part, through an unnamed donor family, who named 8-month-old Frankie in memory of his mother, Frances. Additional donations obtained through the Memorial Scholarship Fund are used for the laboratory.
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The zoo has no immediate plans to outsource its generation for use through zoos, Bapodra-Villaverde said, but hopes the accumulated knowledge of the trials could lead to the creation of an anti-VHF vaccine.
“The knowledge collected will be shared with our zoological partners, offering studies that can save the lives of these endangered elephants,” Bapodra-Villaverde said.
Erin Latimer, laboratory manager at the Smithsonian’s National Elephant Herpes Laboratory, said in a brief that the facility will contribute to cooperative research.
“Having an EEHV point-of-care lab at the Columbus Zoo will allow them to get quick responses for EEHV samples. This allows us to collaborate with them on complex instances and study projects; our partnership will ensure that elephants are in perfect continuous physical condition in the United States,” Latimer said.
EEHV control is exclusively for elephants; most likely, the generation will not be used on any of the other 10,000 animals at the Columbus Zoo, Bapodra-Villaverde said.
“We don’t know of any other virus in any other animal population that is so devastating,” he said.
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