Asian elephant Jade. (Saint Louis Zoo)
By Todd C. Frankel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/13/2009

ST. LOUIS — The virus that has a 2-year-old St. Louis Zoo elephant fighting for her life is a medical mystery. Scientists do not know how it is spread. They do not have a proven cure.

The virus is often fatal. It seems to target the young. Since 2000, it has killed about one in five elephant calves born in U.S. zoos, according to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

And because breeding elephants in captivity is so difficult and so important to the endangered species, the virus is especially troubling.

"It is probably one of the biggest problems that zoos are dealing with right now" with their elephant populations, said Mike Crocker, superintendent of Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo.

Dickerson has been hard hit by the virus, a herpes infection unique to elephants that can cause extensive internal bleeding. Three elephants at Dickerson have died from it, most recently an elephant named Nisha in 2007. A fourth elephant died shortly after moving to a California zoo. But Dickerson also claims one of the rare virus survivors: Chandra, who was treated successfully with antiviral drugs in 1997.

At the St. Louis Zoo, home to eight elephants, Jade is the institution's first case. She was diagnosed late Tuesday. But drug treatments were started the day before, when her behavior changed. "She was not as exuberant, she showed a little stiffness," assistant general curator Bill Houston said Thursday.
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Elephant keepers are trained to watch for behavioral clues because those are often the virus' sole outward sign. Tests can detect it only after symptoms have appeared. And then it is a race against the clock.

"All we know about the illness is that the sooner you jump on it, the better chance you have of solving it," Houston said.

Jade, who is being held from public view, was in stable condition Thursday.

"She's still responsive," Houston said. "She's still up and around. She's still eating."

The St. Louis Zoo has suffered virus scares in prior years. In 2001, the zoo gave antiviral drugs as a precaution to Rani, Jade's mother. But tests showed she did not have herpes.

The virus typically plays out in about a week.

Researchers identified the virus in 1995 while trying to learn what killed a 16-month-old baby elephant at the National Zoo in Washington. One of the co-discoverers was Dr. Laura Richman, who oversees the National Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory.

Richman said scientists still do not understand why elephant herpes remains hidden in some animals but causes life-threatening disease in others. Asian elephants appear more susceptible than African ones.

Both wild and captive animals have been found with the virus, Richman said.

But a California-based zoo watchdog group, In Defense of Animals, argued that Jade's case — and other elephant herpes incidents — illustrates some of the problem with keeping elephants in captivity, even though the virus is not fully understood.

Jade's case was being followed by researchers and zoo officials across the nation, both because they are rooting for the young elephant to pull through, and also because her survival could help the entire elephant population.

"If we're going to provide a hedge against Asian elephant extinction," said Steve Feldman, spokesman for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, "we're going to have to solve this problem."

tfrankel@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8110