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Nov 11, 2008 8:06 am US/Central
Houston Zoo Mourns Death Of Young Elephant
(CBS 11 / TXA 21)
A 2-year-old elephant named Mac died at the
Houston Zoo this weekend.
Mac -- the largest Asian elephant born in captivity at 384 pounds -- died after contracting elephant herpesvirus.
"It's difficult to put into words and describe the attachment that has developed over the past two years. This is a terrible loss especially for the elephant keepers and veterinary medical staff who cared for Mac during his time with us," zoo officials said on their Website.
Mac was born in October 2006, and the zoo called Asian elephant playful, intelligent, curious and mischievous. She quickly became a favorite of zoo staff and visitors and several people left condolences on the zoo Website.
Zoo officials said the veterinary medical team immediately administered Famciclovir, an antiviral medication that has shown some limited success in past elephant herpes cases.
Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) is a recent discovery. The virus was identified in 1995 by researchers at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Many animals and humans carry herpesviruses throughout their lives and never become sick, zoo officials explained. "For reasons not fully understood, herpesviruses can come out of latency and circulate through the bloodstream. Most elephants are able to fight the virus and survive when it comes out of latency. Calves appear to be most susceptible to the virus after they have been weaned," the officials said.
There is no cure for herpesvirus in animals or humans. It is only when an elephant is demonstrating clinical illness that zoos are able to detect the EEHV virus in blood or tissue. There is not yet a direct test to detect elephant herpes virus in a healthy animal with a latent (hidden) infection.
A necropsy, an animal autopsy, will be conducted at the state veterinary diagnostic lab at Texas A&M University. The results will not be known for several weeks.
Zoo spokesman Brian Hill said Mac's mother, Shanti, and aunt, Methai, were with him when he died.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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