Novel, Divergent Simian Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses in a Wild Ugandan Red Colobus Monkey Discovered Using Direct Pyrosequencing

Lauck, Michael; Hyeroba, David; Tumukunde, Alex; Weny, Geoffrey; Lank, Simon M.; Chapman, Colin A.; O'Connor, David H.; Friedrich, Thomas C.; Goldberg, Tony L.

Kibale National Park, Uganda, is a semi-deciduous, midaltitude forest of 795 km 2 located in western Uganda near the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains and is notable for having one of the world's highest species diversities (13 primate species) and densities of primates, including the world's densest population of red colobus [10, 11] . On February 5, 2010, a wild adult male red colobus in Kibale was captured as part of a larger study of primate ecology, health, and conservation. The animal was anesthetized with a combination of Ketamine (5.6 mg/kg) and Xylazine (1.7 mg/kg) administered intramuscularly using a variable-pressure air rifle (Pneudart, Inc, Williamsport, PA, USA). Blood was drawn from the femoral vein into an evacuated plasma collection tube (Becton, Dickinson and Company, Inc, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) and kept cool until processing. The animal was given a reversal agent (Atipamezole, 0.6 mg/kg), and released after recovery back to its social group without incident. Blood was separated using centrifugation in a field laboratory and frozen immediately in liquid nitrogen for storage and transport to the United States. Samples were shipped in an IATA-approved dry shipper to the USA for further analysis at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center.