E. coli bacteria migrating between humans, chimps in Ugandan park
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Tony L. Goldberg, a professor of veterinary pathobiology, with anesthetized Red Colobus monkey in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Credit: Photo courtesy of Tony L. Goldberg
Scientists from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana have found that people employed in chimpanzee-focused research and tourism in a park in western Uganda are exchanging gastrointestinal bacteria – specifically Escherichia coli – with local chimpanzee populations. And some of the E. coli strains migrating to chimps are resistant to antibiotics used by humans in Uganda.
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