Browsing All posts tagged under »disease«

Gorilla Permits and Bureaucracy

June 18, 2014

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This morning my alarm went off at 0600. Today was the day I had been dreaming about for the last four years. I’d seen £450 swiftly leave my bank account in March for a slip of paper that wasn’t quite in my hands yet. Crazy I know. UC and I made a short walk to […]

Great Apes Summit – Disease in apes and humans

September 23, 2013

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Genetic similarities between great apes and humans leaves both susceptible to deadly diseases. It’s a dilemma which is exacerbated by human encroachment, bushmeat hunting and illegal trade. I spoke to Dr Gladys Kalema Zikusoka and Dr Dominic Travis to ask them how do we protect both populations.

Cholera – Day 75

May 17, 2012

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The area I’m in has been plagued by cholera for more or less a month now. The worst of it is in the villages which lie along the lake’s shore including Bugoigo (remember camp Guan-Tanna-mo!) but there have been a few cases here in Biiso. Once again a lot of people are blaming the Congolese […]

Flies – Day 25

April 1, 2012

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In the last few days I seem to have gotten more bites. Some are on the nape of my neck, I have one on my big toe, there’s another in-between my knuckles on my right hand, one under my armpit and most irritatingly a bite below my temple just where my ear starts. At first […]

Masking the problem – should mountain gorilla tourists cover up to save the great apes?

May 14, 2011

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I can hardly believe it’s almost a year since I carted myself off to the African jungle. I remember being full of excitement and apprehension as I put aside my high-heels and lip gloss and packed my box-fresh hiking boots and 100 per cent Deet. As a city girl who’s never even been camping it […]

Branson’s plans put on hold after lemurs fall pregnant

April 23, 2011

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Flying while pregnant can be risky according to doctors. Flying to an exotic location without the necessary inoculations can also be risky. So if you’re a pregnant lemur due to jet off to the British Virgin Islands and haven’t had your jabs, don’t bother packing, you’re not going anywhere. Sir Richard Branson’s plans to import […]

Trials to vaccinate wild apes due to start next month

March 26, 2011

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During the last two decades scientists say the Ebola virus has killed around one-third of the world’s gorillas and tens of thousands of chimpanzees. In the next decade they predict that the death toll may rise to half of the world’s gorilla population. One American scientist from California wants to protect these endangered primates by vaccinating […]

The AIDS virus

December 21, 2010

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When I was a little girl with pigtails, believe it or not, I wanted to grow up to be a biochemist. I loved chemistry at school and I wanted a long career mixing; testing chemicals and creating new compounds. My teacher was a big influence, he was a bit of a maverick and had all […]