Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (71 page)

Zhu, Tuofu, and David D. Ho. 1995. “Was HIV Present in 1959?”
Nature,
374.

Zhu, Tuofu, Bette T. Korber, Andre J. Nahmias, Edward Hooper, Paul M. Sharp, and David D. Ho. 1998. “An African HIV-1 Sequence from 1959 and Implications for the Origin of the Epidemic.”
Nature,
391.

Zimmer, Carl. 2011.
A Planet of Viruses.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Zinsser, Hans. 1934.
Rats, Lice and History.
Reprint edition (undated), New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers.

Acknowledgments

This book had its earliest origin around a campfire in a Central African forest, in July 2000, when two Gabonese men spoke to me about the Ebola outbreak that had struck their village, Mayibout 2, and the thirteen dead gorillas they had seen nearby in the forest around the same time their family members and friends were dying. My thanks must therefore go first to those two men: Thony M’Both and Sophiano Etouck. I’m also indebted to the people who put me at that campfire: Bill Allen, Oliver Payne, Kathy Moran, and their colleagues at
National Geographic
magazine; Nick Nichols, my photographic partner on that assignment (and on many others since); Tomo Nishihara and John Brown, logisticians; Neeld Messler, field assistant to Nick (and asset to us all); the Bantu and Pygmy crewmen who, serving as porters and much more, made the expedition through that Gabonese forest possible, including not just Thony and Sophiano but also Jean-Paul, Jacques, Celestin, Kar, Alfred, Mayombo, Boba, Yeye, and the point man with the machete, tireless Bebe; and most of all, J. Michael Fay, the mad dreamer of African conservation, whose dedication to preserving wild ecosystems and their fauna and flora is exceeded only, if at all, by his physical and intellectual toughness. Walking for weeks through Congolese and Gabonese forests with Mike Fay has been one of the great privileges of my life.

And because
National Geographic
has continued to sustain me with other work and privileged field experiences in the years since—including the assignment that led to “Deadly Contact,” a feature story on zoonotic diseases, published in the October 2007 issue—I also declare here my ongoing gratitude to Chris Johns (editor in chief, having succeeded Bill Allen), Carolyn White, Victoria Pope, again my longtime editor Oliver Payne, and all the other people involved in producing that great magazine. Lynn Johnson did a brilliant job on the photographic side of “Deadly Contact.” Billy Karesh and Peter Daszak helped brainstorm the coverage plan for the article. Billy also provided fine company and veterinary insights on three continents. Peter Reid opened a crucial line into the subject when, in a former paddock near Brisbane, amid newly built houses and dark memories, he said: “That’s it. That’s the bloody tree.”

Jens Kuhn, Charlie Calisher, and Mike Gilpin read the complete book in draft and gave me many invaluable corrections, suggestions, and remonstrations. Their expertise, thoroughness, and generosity made the book much better, but don’t hold them responsible for any of its failings. Karl Johnson, from a very early stage, shared his thoughts and memories as an expert and as a friend, and allowed me to read his own book-in-progress on the Machupo story. Les Real counseled me on disease ecology and on the historical development of mathematical disease theory, from Bernoulli to Anderson and May. Karl Johnson, Les Real, and these other scientists and informants also found time to read and correct various sections in draft: Sazaly AbuBakr, Brian Amman, Brenda Ang, Michelle Barnes, Donald Burke, Aleksei Chmura, Jenny Cory, Janet Cox-Singh, Greg Dwyer, Gregory Engel, Jonathan Epstein, Kylie Forster, Emily Gurley, Beatrice Hahn, Barry Hewlett, Eddie Holmes, Lisa Jones-Engel, Jean-Marie Kabongo, Phyllis Kanki, Billy Karesh again, Brandon Keele, Eric Leroy, Steve Luby, Martin Muller, Judith Myers, Rick Ostfeld, Martine Peeters, Raina Plowright, Peter Reid, Hendrik-Jan Roest, Linda Selvey, Balbir Singh, Jaap Taal, Karen Terio, Dirk Teuwen, Jonathan Towner, Kelly Warfield, Robert Webster, and Michael Worobey. Lin-fa Wang gave me a day-long tour of the BSL-4 and other facilities at AAHL, in Geelong. Kelly Warfield likewise gave me a day, poured out her story, and got me into (and back out of) the Slammer. Ian Lipkin opened his lab and his people to me as well. Quite a few other scientists, mentioned below, trusted me with the opportunity to accompany them during fieldwork. Larry Madoff provided me inestimable assistance, without knowing it, through his ProMED-mail alerts on disease incidents around the world. And there were many others, so many, in so many places, who aided my research efforts so variously—as interviewees or expert consultants or traveling companions or providers of leads—that my further thanks are best organized geographically and alphabetically.

In Australia: Natalie Beohm, Jennifer Crane, Bart Cummings, Rebekah Day, Carol de Jong, Hume Field, Kylie Forster, Kim Halpin, Peter Hulbert, Brenton Lawrence, David Lovell, Deb Middleton, Nigel Perkins, Raina Plowright, Stephen Prowse, Peter Reid, Linda Selvey, Neil Slater, Craig Smith, Gary Tabor, Barry Trail, Ray Unwin, Craig Walker, Lin-fa Wang, Emma Wilkins, and Dick Wright.

In Africa: Patrick Atimnedi, Bruno Baert, Prosper Balo, Paul Bates, Roman Biek, Ken Cameron, Anton Collins, Zacharie Dongmo, Bob Downing, Ofir Drori, Clelia Gasquet, Jane Goodall, Barry Hewlett, Naftali Honig, Jean-Marie Kabongo, Winyi Kaboyo, Glady Kalema-Zikusoka, Shadrack Kamenya, Billy Karesh, John Kayiwa, Sally Lahm, Eric Leroy, Iddi Lipende, Julius Lutwama, Pegue Manga, Neville Mbah, Apollonaire Mbala, Alastair McNeilage, Achille Mengamenya, Jean Vivien Mombouli, Albert Munga, J. J. Muyembe, Max Mviri, Cécile Neel, Hanson Njiforti, Alain Ondzie, Cindy Padilla, Andrew Plumptre, Xavier Pourrut, Jane Raphael, Trish Reed, Paul Roddy, Innocent Rwego, Jordan Tappero, Moïse Tchuialeu, Peter Walsh, Joe Walston, Nadia Wauquier, Beryl West, and Lee White.

In Asia: Sazaly AbuBakar, Brenda Ang, Mohammad Aziz, Aleksei Chmura, Janet Cox-Singh, Jim Desmond, Gregory Engel, Jonathan Epstein, Mustafa Feeroz, Martin Gilbert, Emily Gurley, Johangir Hossain, Arif Islam, Yang Jian, Lisa Jones-Engel, Rasheda Khan, Salah Uddin Khan, Steve Luby, Sue Meng, Joe Meyer, Nazmun Nahar, Malik Peiris, Leo Poon, Mahmudur Rahman, Muhammad Rahman, Sohayati Rahman, Sorn San, Balbir Singh, Gavin Smith, Juliet Tseng, and Guangjian Zhu.

In Europe: Rob Besselink, Arnout de Bruin, Pierre Formenty, Fabian Leendertz, Viktor Molnar, Martine Peeters, Hendrik-Jan Roest, Barbara Schimmer, Jaap Taal, Dirk Teuwen, Wim van der Hoek, Yvonne van Duynhoven, Jim van Steenbergen, and Ineke Weers.

In the United States: Brian Amman, Kevin Anderson, Mike Antolin, Jesse Brunner, Charlie Calisher, Deborah Cannon, Darin Carroll, David Daigle, Inger Damon, Peter Daszak, Andy Dobson, Tony Dolan, Rick Douglass, Shannon Duerr, Ginny Emerson, Eileen Farnon, Robert Gallo, Tom Gillespie, Barney Graham, Beatrice Hahn, Barbara Harkins, Eddie Homes, Pete Hudson, Vivek Kapur, Kevin Karem, Billy Karesh, Brandon Keele, Ali Khan, Marm Kilpatrick, Lonnie King, Tom Ksiazek, Amy Kuenzi, Jens Kuhn, Edith Lederman, Julie Ledgerwood, Jill Lepore, Ian Lipkin, Andrew Lloyd-Smith, Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Adam MacNeil, Jennifer McQuiston, Nina Marano, Jim Mills, Russ Mittermeier, Jennifer Morcone, Stephen Morse, Martin Muller, Stuart Nichol, Rick Ostfeld, Mary Pearl, Mary Poss, Andrew Price-Smith, Juliet Pulliam, Anne Pusey, Andrew Read, Les Real, Zach Reed, Russ Regnery, Anne Rimoin, Pierre Rollin, Charles Rupprecht, Anthony Sanchez, Tony Schountz, Nancy Sullivan, Karen Terio, Jonathan Towner, Giliane Trindade, Murray Trostle, Abbigail Tumpey, Sally and Robert Uhlmann, Caree Vander Linden, Kelly Warfield, Robert Webster, Nathan Wolfe, and Michael Worobey.

There were others who helped too, omitted here only because my memory is bad and my notebooks and journals, just slightly more orderly than a Congolese forest, still hold some secrets even from me. Apologies for the omission, and thank you,

Maria Guarnaschelli, of W. W. Norton, my editor through many years and half a dozen books, has played her usual keen-eyed, penetrating, structurally astute, and deeply supportive role with this one. Her contributions are no less precious to me for having continued so reliably over decades. Amanda Urban of ICM, my agent, helped shape the project from the stage of a first-draft proposal and has blessed it with her ferocious advocacy ever since. These two formidable women make it possible for me to write the sort of books (requiring a bit of time and travel) that I want to write. A third, Renée Wayne Golden, played that role in earlier times and without her too this book wouldn’t exist. Melanie Tortoroli, Maria’s assistant, and their colleagues at Norton have given this project the focus, support, and professionalism for which an author always wishes. Daphne Gillam, creator of the maps (www.handcraftedmaps.com), put the artistry of human touch to the lineaments of geography. Chip Kidd’s jacket reminded us all what a spooky subject this is. Emily Krieger combined assiduous research with a reader’s sense of flow, both crucial attributes, in serving as my fact-checker. Gloria Thiede, faithful Gloria, again helped me immensely with secretarial tasks, including the transcription of interviews recorded while air conditioners, coffee grinders, street traffic, and cockatoos screeched in the background. Jodi Solomon, my lecture agent, has brokered the way to live audiences. Dan Smith, Dan Krza, Danny Schotthoefer (my three Daniels), and Don Killian assisted me greatly in the digital dimension, handling tasks of Web site design, computer repair and data rescue, and social media wrangling, most of which are even more mysterious to me than the mathematics of Anderson and May. The late Chuck West will be very much missed. Betsy my amazing wife, and Harry and Kevin and Skipper (and Nelson, now departed), our depend
ents, warmed the home in which this book was written.

Index

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, 79

Abong Mbang, Cameroon, 433

Abraham, Thomas, 173–74

AbuBakar (Prof. Sazaly), 317–18, 319

acarologists, 250

Acholi people, 88, 90

adenine, 156, 270, 306, 309

Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, British, 275

Aedes aegypti,
23, 43

Afghanistan, 22

Africa:

    Central,
see
Central Africa

    East, 360, 471, 483

    southern, 483

    sub-Saharan, 24, 136, 399

    West, 402, 404, 471, 483

African green monkey (
Chlorocebus
), 396–97, 398–99

African horse sickness (AHS), 16–17, 18

Afzelius, Arvid, 240

agriculture, invention of, malaria and, 137–38, 139

AIDS, 67, 274, 385–489, 511

    in chimpanzees, 466, 469, 474–77

    emergence of, 42, 43, 385–90,
407–89

    in gay men, 42, 385–86, 390, 391, 407, 489, 519

    geographical dissemination of, 482–89

    in Haitians, 386–87, 389, 484–88

    in hemophiliacs, 390, 391, 489

    Kinshasa emergence of, 428–29, 430–31, 462, 463, 477–78, 481–84

    as pandemic, 24, 41–42, 290, 403, 437, 477, 512

    
R
0
of, 390, 429, 431, 445, 462

    sexual mores and, 429, 463, 478

    sexual transmission of, 388, 391, 463, 480

    syringe reuse and, 390, 391, 463, 478–82, 489

    threshold density of, 480

    transmissibility of, 388

    as zoonotic disease, 14, 21, 381, 385, 477

    
see also
HIV-1

Ailes, Elizabeth, 465

Amazon basin, 515

Amman, Brian, 352–55, 364–65

Ammann, Karl, 434, 437

amplifier hosts, 34, 36, 191, 195, 236, 314, 316–17, 319–20

Anderson, Roy M., 302, 303–6, 518

And the Band Played On
(Shilts), 387–88, 486

Ang, Brenda, 176–77, 179–81, 207

Angola, 483

Annapolis, Md., 212, 214

Anopheles
mosquitoes, 135–36, 138, 146

    
A. latens,
158, 161

    
A. leucosphyrus,
161, 163

    DDT resistance in, 147

anthrax, 21, 24, 102, 265, 517

anthroponosis, 67

antibiotics, 290

    as ineffective on viruses, 24, 211, 269

antibodies, effectiveness of, 350

antibodies, screening for, 424, 425

    to Ebola, 65, 66, 74, 91, 115, 351, 371

    to Hendra, 27, 28, 31, 32, 48–49

    to herpes B, 278–79

    to HIV, 397, 403

    to Marburg, 356

    to Nipah, 320, 322, 331

    to SFV, 288–89

    to SIV, 396, 467

Argentina, 214, 216

Armstrong, Charles, 215

asmani bala (curse of Allah), 376, 378

atoxyl, 480

Atsangandako, Catherine, 123

Auerbach, David M., 388, 389

Austin, Thomas, 298

Australia:

    Hendra virus in,
see
Hendra virus

    human habitation of, 37

    land clearance in, 369, 515

    myxoma virus in, 298–302, 305–6

    psittacosis in, 216–19

    Q fever in, 219–20

Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), 18–19, 25, 28, 319

Australian bat lyssavirus, 314, 367

avian (bird) flu,
see
H5N1 virus

bacteria, 23, 24, 40, 102, 265, 290

    intracellular, 230

    viruses vs., 211

    zoonotic, 211–59

    
see also
pathogens

bacterial diarrhea, 325

Bakola people, 87–88, 89–90

Bakwele people, 436–37

Bali, 277–78, 286, 288

Balkan grippe, 221–22

Balo, Estelle, 123–24

Balo, Prosper, 65, 66, 122, 123–24

Bambendjellé people, 55

banded leaf monkeys, 161, 162

Bangalore, India, 128

Bangladesh, 163, 281

    Nipah virus in, 325–42, 514

    population density of, 325, 330

bar-headed goose, 509, 510

Barnes, Michelle, 360–63, 364

Barré-Sinoussi, Françoise, 393

basic reproduction rate,
see
R
0

bats:

    diversity of, 348–49

    evolution of, 349–50

    as Hendra reservoirs, 27, 30–31, 37, 43, 48, 115, 313, 331, 351, 366–67, 499

    immunology of, 347–48, 350–51

    insectivorous, 350

    as Marburg reservoirs, 313, 351–65, 370, 372

    mark-recapture tagging of, 355, 365

    as Nipah reservoirs, 322, 323–25, 327, 331–32, 334, 351, 514–15

    as possible Ebola reservoirs, 115–16, 122, 313–14, 351, 370, 371–72

    as rabies reservoirs, 31, 313, 351

    as SARS reservoirs, 194–96, 199–202, 206, 313, 334, 347, 351, 514–15

    as virus reservoirs, 313–14, 345–51, 514–15

“Bats: Important Reservoir Hosts of Emerging Viruses” (Calisher et al.), 348–51

Beijerinck, Martinus, 265–66

Beijing, SARS in, 168

beka (initiation ceremony), 436–37

Belgian Congo,
see
Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Belgium, 484

Berlin Union of Canary Fanciers, 214

Bernoulli, Daniel, 130–31

Berryman, Alan A., 496

Besselink, Rob, 223–24, 225–26

ß (transmission rate), 374

Bhutan, 163

Biek, Roman, 117, 121

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 518

biogeography, 256–59

biohazard level 4, 275–76

biological and chemical weapons, 97

Biological Aspects of Infectious Disease
(Burnet), 235–36

biological diversity, 23, 255–56

biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratories, 102, 230, 412

biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratories, 74, 102–5, 110, 111, 275, 356

bioterrorism, 227, 513

bird flu,
see
H5N1 virus

birds, influenza in, 313, 314, 505–6, 507–10

Black Death, 63, 290, 496

blacklegged ticks,
see
deer (blacklegged) tick

blood plasma trade, 485–86

blood transfusions, hepatitis B and, 388

Blumenthal, Richard, 239

Bobangi people, 458–60

Boesch, Christophe, 79

Bolivia, 38–39, 69–70

Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, 21

bonobo (
Pan paniscus
), 139–40

Booué, Gabon, 61–62, 73, 81, 117

Borna, 24

Borneo, 153, 160

    deforestation of, 161–62, 515

Borrelia burgdorferi,
213, 238–39, 240, 244, 246, 251, 256, 257

    as bacterium, 258–59

    humans as dead-end hosts of, 253

    life history of, 213, 248, 249–51, 255

    noninheritability of, 251

    round-body form of, 258–59

B. duttonii,
243

Boumba Bek National Park, Cameroon, 435

bovine tuberculosis, 21

Bradshaw, Bob, 17

Brazzaville, ROC, 429–30, 432, 461–62, 463, 477

Brebner, William, 272–74, 278, 286

Brisbane, Australia, 13, 211, 219

British Columbia, 498

Brownie (horse), 46–48

Brownlee, John, 132–33, 134, 518

Brundtland, Gro Harlem, 169

Brunner, Jesse, 254–55, 257

bubonic plague,
see
plague

Buddhist temples, macaques at, 24, 276–77

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 214

Bumba Zone, 69, 71

Bundibugyo, Uganda, 84

    ostracism of, 86

Bundibugyo virus, 84–87

    unanswered questions about, 86

Burgdorfer, Willy, 213, 243–44

Burke, Donald S., 512–13, 514

Burnet, Frank Macfarlane, 216–17, 268, 302, 304, 346, 505

    infectious disease theories of, 234–37, 295–96

    psittacosis and, 217–19, 236–37

    Q fever and, 219–20, 221–22, 231, 234, 264

Burundi, 414

bushmeat, 344, 413, 432, 434, 451–52, 515

    great apes as, 53, 57, 67, 89, 435–37, 438–39, 451

Buy’em–Sell’ems, 435, 447–48, 449–50

“BW” (surveyor), 151–53, 157, 160

Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, 357, 360

Cairns, Australia, 45–48

Calisher, Charles H., 345–46

Cambodia, 163

camels, rabies in, 296–97

Cameroon, 71, 478, 480

    HIV in, 406

    as locus of HIV spillover, 42, 425, 426–31, 437, 463, 471, 477

    logging in, 433–35

    poaching in, 432–33, 438

Candida
yeast, 385–86, 389

canine distemper virus, 19

Cannon Hill paddock, 14, 19–20, 27–28, 29, 30, 45

Cape Verde, 398

capsids, 268, 269, 270

Carlsbad Caverns, 350

Carroll, Serena, 352

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 247

Cat’s Cradle
(Vonnegut), 24

cattle, FMD in, 35–36

CD4 protein receptor, 443

Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, 306

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 39, 89, 186, 190, 377, 513

    AIDS and, 388, 488

    BSL-4 labs at, 74, 356

    Division of Vector-Borne Diseases,
318

    Ebola and, 69–70, 72, 73, 74, 76

    Special Pathogens Branch, 70, 93, 352

Central Africa, 40, 68, 293

    biological survey of, 54, 59–60

    ebolavirus outbreaks in, 53–54, 56–57, 60–63, 68, 86, 118–19

    gorillas in, 67–68

    HIV in, 406, 483

    as locus of HIV-1 spillover, 396, 423

    trypanosomiasis innoculations in, 478–81

Central African Republic, 438, 483

Central Veterinary Institute, Netherlands, 230

Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF), 54, 56, 59, 67, 114, 117, 403

Cercocebus atys
(sooty mangabey), 399–401, 404, 406, 413

Ceylon,
see
Sri Lanka

Chandpur, Bangladesh, 326, 328

Chashnipeer, 282

Chashnipeer Majar, 280–85, 287

Chatou Wildlife Market, 188, 191, 197

chickenpox, 67, 308

chikungunya, 24, 270, 307

Childs, James E., 348

“Chimpanzee Reservoirs of Pandemic and Nonpandemic HIV-1” (Keele et al.), 427–28

chimpanzees (
Pan troglodytes
), 42, 120

    AIDS in, 466, 469

    bushmeat from, 53, 57, 435–37, 451

    central (
P. t. troglodytes
), 423, 425,
428

    eastern (
P. t. schweinfurthii
), 424

    ebolaviruses in, 53, 54, 79–80

    as HIV reservoirs, 313, 403–5, 423

    malaria in, 138–39

    
P. t. vellerosus,
425

    SFV in, 288

    SIV in,
see
simian immunovirus (SIV), in chimpanzees

Chimpanzees of Gombe, The
(Goodall), 468

China, 514–15

    
A. leucosphyrus
in, 163

    blood plasma donors in, 486

    Era of Wild Flavor in, 187–88, 191, 197–98, 433

    polio in, 22

    SARS in, 44, 168–74, 207, 374

China Airlines flight 112, 168, 169

China Syndrome
(Greenfeld), 187

Chinese bamboo rats, 203–5, 206

chipmunks, deer ticks and, 252

chlamydia, 183, 186

Chlamydophila psittaci,
216, 237, 238

Chlorocebus
(African green monkeys), 396–97, 398–99

Chmura, Aleksei, 196–205, 206, 208, 333, 514

cholera, 131, 237, 265, 325, 380, 381

Cholera Hospital, Dhaka,
see
ICDDR,B

Chua, Paul, 317–18, 319, 324, 334

Cipro, 362

Ciuca, Mihai, 149–50, 151, 157, 480

civet cat (
Paguma larvata
; masked palm civet), 187, 189–91, 192–93, 195, 198, 206, 343

classical swine fever (hog cholera), 316

“Coevolution of Hosts and Parasites” (Anderson and May), 304–5

Colorado State University, 345–46

Columbia University, 514

common cold, 35, 270

common tern (
Sterna hirundo
), 505, 507

Congo, Democratic Republic of the (DRC; Zaire), 139–40, 414, 417, 478

    Ebola in, 69–75, 76–77, 118, 370–73

    emergence of AIDS pandemic in, 389, 407, 428–29, 430–31, 462, 463, 477–78

    Haitians in, 484–85

Congo, Republic of the (ROC), 53, 55, 426, 432, 438, 439, 450, 466

    Ebola in, 63, 115, 118, 120

    emergent AIDS cases in, 429–30

    logging in, 439

Congo basin, 431, 434, 515

Congolese Red Cross, 481

Congo River, 139, 423, 428, 429–31, 460–61, 477

Connecticut Department of Health, 212

Consortium for Conservation Medicine, 194, 196, 333

consumptive coagulopathy, 95–96, 108

“Contribution to the Mathematical Theory of Epidemics, A” (Kermack and McKendrick), 141–44

Cook, James, 37

coronaviruses, 185, 193, 194, 270, 512

Côte d’Ivoire, 60, 79, 82, 359, 406

Cox, Herald, 220–21, 243

Coxiella burnetii,
220, 221–34, 238

    as intracellular bacterium, 230

    windborne transmission of, 228–29, 259

Cox-Singh, Janet, 153–54, 156, 158–64, 514

crested mona monkey, 112

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, 94

critical community size (CCS), 129–30, 349

Cuba, yellow fever eliminated from, 263, 266

Cunneen, Ben, 33

Curtis, Tom, 415, 416

Cut Hunter, 442–45, 478

cut-hunter hypothesis, 413, 428, 440, 442–48, 453–62, 466, 478

cytosine, 156, 270, 306, 309

Danish Pest Infestation Laboratory, 74

Daszak, Peter, 514–15

date-palm sap, 329, 331–32

Davis, Gordon, 220–21, 243

DDT, 145, 147

dead-end hosts, 83, 164, 294, 343, 373, 480