Viral Epidemics
Inadvertent human exposure to lethal nonhuman-primate viruses during experimental procedures could initiate devastating epidemics. For example, hundreds of millions of people were innoculated with a polio vaccine contaminated with the simian virus SV40, and this population has experienced a higher than normal rate of certain tumors. Similarly, HIV and hepatitis B likely came from human exposure to chimpanzees, perhaps in their capture or use for research.
There is no way to test for unknown viruses, and viruses hidden in nonhuman-primate DNA could have fatal consequences for humans. Already the virulent herpes-family "B" monkey viruses have infected at least twenty-five people associated with nonhuman-primate research, killing 16 of them. There is also reason to fear Ebola viruses, which have been responsible for two outbreaks in central Africa that have killed hundreds.
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