Evidence map›Paper›PMID 15269768›Full record

ArticleNature2004

Anthrax kills wild chimpanzees in a tropical rainforest.

Fabian H Leendertz, Heinz Ellerbrok, Christophe Boesch, Emmanuel Couacy-Hymann, Kerstin Mätz-Rensing, Regine Hakenbeck, Carina Bergmann, Pola Abaza, Sandra Junglen, Yasmin Moebius and 3 more

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In one paragraph

Article in Nature, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
84citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.9field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

84 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 254 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
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  5. TrackingACS omega · 2026
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  6. Distribution and prevalence ofJournal of medical microbiology · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Local genetic adaptation to habitat in wild chimpanzees.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Analysis of Sporulation inPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023
    Article
  16. Genomic and Phylogenetic Analysis ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. PathogenicPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022
    Review

24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.

Fabian H LeendertzMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Heinz Ellerbrok
Christophe Boesch
Emmanuel Couacy-Hymann
Kerstin Mätz-Rensing
Regine Hakenbeck
Carina Bergmann
Pola Abaza
Sandra Junglen
Yasmin Moebius
Linda Vigilant
Pierre Formenty
Georg Pauli
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology · DERobert Koch Institute · DEUniversity of Kaiserslautern · DEGerman Primate Center · DELaboratoire National d'Appui au Développement Agricole · CIMax Planck Society · DEWorld Health Organization - Pakistan · PK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Infectious disease has joined habitat loss and hunting as threats to the survival of the remaining wild populations of great apes. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the causative agents. We investigated an unusually high number of sudden deaths observed over nine months in three communities of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Taï National Park, Ivory Coast. Here we report combined pathological, cytological and molecular investigations that identified Bacillus anthracis as the cause of death for at least six individuals. We show that anthrax can be found in wild non-human primates living in a tropical rainforest, a habitat not previously known to harbour B. anthracis. Anthrax is an acute disease that infects ruminants, but other mammals, including humans, can be infected through contacting or inhaling high doses of spores or by consuming meat from infected animals. Respiratory and gastrointestinal anthrax are characterized by rapid onset, fever, septicaemia and a high fatality rate without early antibiotic treatment. Our results suggest that epidemic diseases represent substantial threats to wild ape populations, and through bushmeat consumption also pose a hazard to human health.

Indexed as

Tropical ClimateAnimalsAnimals, WildAnthraxBacillus anthracisCause of DeathCote d'IvoireGenes, BacterialPan troglodytesRainTrees

Identifiers

PMID15269768
OpenAlexW2029288383

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.