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Gorillas and chimps are threatened by human disease

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In a bid to save wild apes from extinction, people may

be unwittingly infecting them with potentially deadly diseases, new research

shows.

Humans and great apes are closely related, creating the potential for

diseases to jump between them.

Isolated incidents have been documented of apes and monkeys contracting

measles, pneumonia, and influenza from people, as well as a range of other

bacteria, viruses and parasites.

But the problem may be greater than even that, as highlighted by five

recently published academic studies.

Your close cousins