‘Killer’ herpes isn’t stopping these monkeys from mating and, yep, they’re in Florida

They have a herpes virus that can be fatal to humans. They are randy. And their population could double by 2022. “They” are a group of about 200 feral monkeys — rhesus macaques, to be exact — in Silver Springs State Park in central Florida’s Marion County.

There is also a colony of these monkeys in Puerto Rico. According to a 2018 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers found that these rhesus macaques can shed the herpes B virus, known as macacine herpes virus 1 or McHV-1, and this puts “humans at risk for exposure to this potentially fatal pathogen.”

No humans recently, so far, have contracted the monkey B virus. The virus is transmitted by bites and scratches and simian bodily fluids — monkeys are known to, sorry, fling their poop, so that could be one way to spread the infection, too.

‘Killer’ herpes isn’t stopping these monkeys from mating and, yep, they’re in Florida

I never knew there was such a thing as ‘Killer’ herpes. This does not sound good. If the climate is heating up the monkeys are sure to spread northward.

I am not one for killing innocent animals but this needs to be nipped in the bud. I would hate to see this become a major problem in the human population.

Holy baby jeezus, I just spit out my diet coke on the keyboard. Best article of the year.

Thank you!

Looks like they are not native species. They escaped from zoos and people’s homes after various hurricanes and what not. Could be open season on those simian beasts.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

a reply to: Athetos

I don't understand how they can identify something like that in their park and not take care of the problem, especially if it is an invasive species.

Oh noooes, they spread to the bottom of your post and one is flinging something at me

I think the solution is evident ? If not taken care of, expect consequences. Remember Killer Bees ? Fire Ants ? Iguana's and snakes in Florida, huge frogs. sounds kind of like Plagues.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Ohhh boy!
I hope it turns people into herpes covered zombies

Well as long as no one has sex with the monkeys we’ll be ok.

Dear lord this is happening in Florida. We’re doomed.

a reply to: underwerks

Like no one in Florida is having sex with monkeys

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: underwerks

Like no one in Florida is having sex with monkeys

give it time!


Florida man arrested for having sex with miniature horse on multiple occasions, deputies say
www.abcactionnews.com...

a reply to: JAGStorm

Having relations with miniature whores? That's shocking!

Oh! horses. Sorry.



bally

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Why are people so cruel to wildlife these days?

No need to kill them.... how about capture them and treat them??

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: underwerks

Like no one in Florida is having sex with monkeys

Who cares? It's just that you've got to be careful and not have sex with people who have had sex with monkeys.

a reply to: schuyler

Cuz on that consent form you fill out before having sex with someone has a monkey sex question?

a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

As far as I know there is no cure for herpes. I would be all for that instead of killing them.

HIV began in monkeys as SIV

Killer herpes?

Never herd of it until now.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Yeah, there was a story a few years ago about a zookeeper that got hit in the eye by a monkey urinating and died shortly after due to this.


Edit... well, it was quite a few years ago... 1997

Nasty monkeys.

www.chicagotribune.com...

A bizarre accident in a Georgia animal laboratory that seemed unlikely to occur by ordinary laws of chance has killed a 22-year-old lab assistant exposed to a herpes virus in a rhesus monkey.

Elizabeth R. Griffin, a worker at Yerkes Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, became the first known human to have contracted herpes B virus via the eye.

Carried only by macaque monkeys, which include rhesus monkeys, herpes B is relatively harmless to the monkeys and is difficult for them to transmit to other animals. In the United States, the virus has been transmitted to humans only 40 times in the last 64 years, but it has been fatal in 70 percent of those cases.

Griffin, who recently graduated from college, died Wednesday in Atlanta after a six-week, up-and-down struggle against the disease.

Viral researchers said her death should serve as a warning to be aware of risks when people handle monkeys of the macaque species, especially people who have them as pets.

"People who keep them as pets are distressingly ignorant," said Dr. Louisa Chapman, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

"We are always getting calls from physicians treating patients, especially children, bitten by pet monkeys. Fortunately, even with bites and scratches, few of them become infected."

There is no way of determining how many macaques are kept as pets. Thousands of the monkeys, however, are used in medical research--especially rhesus monkeys. They are favored because they are plentiful and breed easily in captivity.

Griffin was unknowingly exposed to the virus as she helped move a cage containing a rhesus monkey at the Yerkes lab.

The lab, which uses primates in research on such human diseases as AIDS and cancer orders employees to follow strict safety protocols when working with animals. Griffin was following those protocols, wearing a facial mask, clothing and gloves to protect her from bites and scratches, when the accident occurred.

As she helped move the cage, covered with a fine-mesh screen as a further precaution, Griffin peeked into the cage to see how the monkey was faring. The monkey apparently either spit or flung bodily fluid at her as she peered in, striking her eyeball.

www.emory.edu...

originally posted by: infolurker
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Yeah, there was a story a few years ago about a zookeeper that got hit in the eye by a monkey urinating and died shortly after due to this.

Wow, that is scary.

Do you know if they have the monkeys confined somehow or are they running free in the park?

originally posted by: lakenheath24
a reply to: schuyler

Cuz on that consent form you fill out before having sex with someone has a monkey sex question?

Thanks for bringing this up!
Now, some of the members in Congress will b!tch and moan that the monkeys receive protected status in the HIPPA act.
After all, we don't want other monkeys knowing that, some monkeys are carrying a fatal disease.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars

originally posted by: infolurker
a reply to: LookingAtMars

Yeah, there was a story a few years ago about a zookeeper that got hit in the eye by a monkey urinating and died shortly after due to this.

Wow, that is scary.

Do you know if they have the monkeys confined somehow or are they running free in the park?

Hell, after reading that again, I would not want to be anywhere near one of these things. They spit, throw feces, no thank you.... death sentence if it hits you in the face not to mention if it can bite or scratch you.

These things should be treated as a disease vector and all of them relocated to country of origin and eliminate those that are infected.

a reply to: LookingAtMars


Eta: a reply to: infolurker

Nevermind, question answered.