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Science 19 February 1999:
Vol. 283. no. 5405, pp. 1093 - 1094
DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5405.1093a
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News of the Week

VIROLOGY:
Virus Suspect Identified in Elephant Deaths

Dan Ferber

A research team reports on page 1171 that it has identified a virus that has killed at least eight juvenile Asian elephants at zoos. The virus, which is a distant relative of the herpesvirus that causes cold sores in humans, may have been transmitted to the Asian elephants from African elephants also kept in zoos. What's more, the researchers suspect that Asian elephants harbor a virus that is fatal to their African cousins. By raising the possibility of fatal crossover infections, the work could influence how the world's zoos take care of their elephants.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)