Deborah Smith : February 5, 2011
No danger ... Pak Boon with her calf, Tukta. Photo: Anthony Johnson
ONE of Taronga Zoo's elephants, Pak Boon, which gave birth to a calf three months ago, has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.
The zoo's senior vet, Larry Vogelnest, said the 19-year-old Asian elephant had no symptoms but tested positive in a routine, three-monthly laboratory screen for the bacterial disease, which is relatively common in elephants.
The zoo's seven other elephants have tested negative. Pak Boon is on drugs to kill the bacteria.
Dr Vogelnest said it was likely she had been infected in Thailand before coming to Australia four years ago, and the disease had remained dormant and undetectable. ''Now it has reactivated, and I think in her case it was almost certainly because of the birth of her calf.''
Reactivation in pregnancy was a common scenario in women with latent disease, he said.
Dr Vogelnest said the elephant, which is still on display, posed no risk to visitors.
''TB is not a highly contagious disease. They would have to be in very close contact with her for hours to be at any risk.''
Zoo staff, however, are taking precautions such as wearing masks to do trunk washes for TB tests and preventing Pak Boon blowing water out of her trunk near people. She has not been separated from her group, as this would cause her stress.
About one-third of the world's human population is thought to be infected with TB but only about 4 to 10 per cent of people develop active disease.
Pak Boon was diagnosed in December and was probably infected by a person. The strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis she has accounted for about a third of human cases in Thailand, Dr Vogelnest said.
It is not one of the deadly drug-resistant strains causing concern around the world. However, she will need treatment for up to a year and the three types of drugs she is being given could cost as much as $50,000. With her weight of about 3000 kilograms, she would need a considerable amount drugs, Dr Vogelnest said.
In the US between 1994 and 2006, 33 Asian elephants, or about 12 per cent of the species in that country, tested positive for TB, according to Elephant Care International.
To test for active TB, an elephant's trunk is washed out with saline solution three times in a week and this ''spit'' is cultured in a laboratory to see if bacteria are present. A newer test that detects antibodies in blood is also being used at Taronga.
Asian elephants are endangered, with as few as 34,000 left in the wild. Pak Boon, which means morning glory flower in Thai, had a 120-kilogram female calf in November, which was named Tukta, meaning doll.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/zoo-says-no-risk-to-visitors-after-elephant-diagnosed-with-tuberculosis-20110204-1agw8.html
No danger ... Pak Boon with her calf, Tukta. Photo: Anthony JohnsonONE of Taronga Zoo's elephants, Pak Boon, which gave birth to a calf three months ago, has been diagnosed with tuberculosis.
The zoo's senior vet, Larry Vogelnest, said the 19-year-old Asian elephant had no symptoms but tested positive in a routine, three-monthly laboratory screen for the bacterial disease, which is relatively common in elephants.
The zoo's seven other elephants have tested negative. Pak Boon is on drugs to kill the bacteria.
Dr Vogelnest said it was likely she had been infected in Thailand before coming to Australia four years ago, and the disease had remained dormant and undetectable. ''Now it has reactivated, and I think in her case it was almost certainly because of the birth of her calf.''
Reactivation in pregnancy was a common scenario in women with latent disease, he said.
Dr Vogelnest said the elephant, which is still on display, posed no risk to visitors.
''TB is not a highly contagious disease. They would have to be in very close contact with her for hours to be at any risk.''
Zoo staff, however, are taking precautions such as wearing masks to do trunk washes for TB tests and preventing Pak Boon blowing water out of her trunk near people. She has not been separated from her group, as this would cause her stress.
About one-third of the world's human population is thought to be infected with TB but only about 4 to 10 per cent of people develop active disease.
Pak Boon was diagnosed in December and was probably infected by a person. The strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis she has accounted for about a third of human cases in Thailand, Dr Vogelnest said.
It is not one of the deadly drug-resistant strains causing concern around the world. However, she will need treatment for up to a year and the three types of drugs she is being given could cost as much as $50,000. With her weight of about 3000 kilograms, she would need a considerable amount drugs, Dr Vogelnest said.
In the US between 1994 and 2006, 33 Asian elephants, or about 12 per cent of the species in that country, tested positive for TB, according to Elephant Care International.
To test for active TB, an elephant's trunk is washed out with saline solution three times in a week and this ''spit'' is cultured in a laboratory to see if bacteria are present. A newer test that detects antibodies in blood is also being used at Taronga.
Asian elephants are endangered, with as few as 34,000 left in the wild. Pak Boon, which means morning glory flower in Thai, had a 120-kilogram female calf in November, which was named Tukta, meaning doll.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/zoo-says-no-risk-to-visitors-after-elephant-diagnosed-with-tuberculosis-20110204-1agw8.html
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