The herpes virus can kill an elephant in 48 hours
There is a wide variety of herpes viruses. Elephant herpes virus does not simply cause cold sores like oral herpes, which affects humans. It is one of the biggest causes of death in young Asian elephants, both in their natural environment and in zoos. This virus is probably present in latent form in the majority of elephants but it is mainly the young ones that are susceptible to it. It mainly affects elephants aged one to eight years old. It causes an acute haemorrhagic disease, characterised by oedemas and internal haemorrhaging. Young Asian elephants die in over 80% of cases, in just a few hours or days.
Pairi Daiza and its foundation are active on three fronts in the fight against elephant herpes
- Currently, there is no vaccine that can protect elephants and no treatment that can cure the animal once it has contracted the disease. Only supportive treatment, which relies on plasma transfusions, may, in the most favourable cases, prove life-saving, particularly if it is carried out quickly. With its herd of elephants, the largest in Europe, Pairi Daiza is effectively a plasma bank. The blood of the zoo’s 21 asian elephants is a valuable plasma resource, which can be used in emergencies in other zoos in Europe.
- The Pairi Daiza Foundation has worked in partnership with Zoolyx veterinary laboratory in Alost (https://www2.zoolyx.be/fr/) to set up an elephant herpes diagnostic laboratory in Belgium.
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