TMC PULSE

Vol. 36/10

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t m c » p u l s e | a u g u s t 2 0 1 4 14 t m c » p u l s e | a u g u s t 2 0 1 4 Good Neighbors Human physicians and researchers lend their expertise to the Houston Zoo B y Z o e Q u e z a d a W ith the world's largest medical center located right next door, it is no wonder that the Houston Zoo has paired up with some of the best human physicians and researchers to collaborate on important issues that affect our ecosystem. As experts in their respective fields, Jose Banchs, M.D., FACC, FASE, director of echocardiography at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Paul Ling, Ph.D., a longtime herpes virus researcher at Baylor College of Medicine, extend their knowledge of human health issues to the vets at Houston Zoo. Ling and Banchs work on separate projects with the zoo. Banchs helps care for the orangutans and chimps as part of the Great Ape Heart Project and Ling studies blood and trunk wash samples taken from the Asian elephants to mon- itor levels of elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus (EEHV), a virus that is the leading cause of death in juvenile Asian elephants in North America, and may be contributing to their decline in the wild. "We are very grateful for every- thing the medical center has done," said Houston Zoo Veterinarian Lauren Howard, DVM. "Being right across the street certainly helps facilitate our relationships with the institutions and helps us to provide great patient care." Banchs and his team monitor the apes' cardiac health through the use of regular heart ultrasounds, performed while the animals are under anesthesia. They take heart measurements to eval- uate cardiac function, and then work together with the zoo veterinarians to develop a treatment plan. "To see that they have the exact same structure, an exact same fiber orientation in the heart to human beings, it's just very enlightening," said Banchs. Heart disease an important cause of sickness and death in apes in captivity, and it is important for zoos to monitor cardiac health in their ape populations. Little is known about the incidence of heart disease in apes in the wild. It's not uncommon for zoos to seek out input from human cardiologists when treating apes. Apes are closer in heart anatomy to humans than they are to any other animal. In fact, they are almost identical. For this reason, human cardiologists, rather than veterinary cardiologist, are more appropriate to offer assistance. "Our preventative medicine protocols are always evolving, so when we wanted to participate in the Great Ape Heart Project more and do better cardiac exams on our great apes (orangutans at the time) we contacted several zoos to ask what they in addition to caring for patients at Md anderson, Jose Banchs, M.d., works with the houston Zoo to help treat primates suffering from heart disease. did," said Maryanne Tocidlowski, DVM, associate veterinarian at the Houston Zoo. "Many of them had human cardiol- ogists as consultants because of their expertise with the heart exam and cardiac equipment. Banchs and his technician Liza Sanchez came over and apparently became enthralled with our animals. They have been coming over to do our cardiac exams ever since. We are ever grateful to them for their assistance." In 2009, when Banchs was first brought in to work with the zoo, he helped confirm that a Bornean orang- utan, Doc, was suffering from severe heart disease. Taking advice from Banchs, the veterinarians put Doc on human heart medication, but unfortu- nately treatment was initiated too late to turn his illness around. Doc was euth- anized in August 2001, due to severe cardiomyopathy—an inability of the heart muscle to contract effectively. Before Doc was euthanized, Banchs and his team were present to perform one final cardiac exam, to learn as much as they could about Doc's condition. Banchs said his last moments with Doc really moved him. "It was very sad to see him suffer so much," said Banchs. "You see that famil- iarity between the keepers and the ani- mals and at that moment when a human who has been taking care of this animal for more than a decade or two realizes they are losing the animal who is like a relative to them, it was very moving." The project continued after Doc's death and a few years later it was dis- covered that Rudi, another male orang- utan was suffering from decreased cardiac function. This time, though Rudi was not showing any clinical the investigative abilities that dr. ling and his research team have provided have really opened doors in helping us understand and manage this disease. — lAurEn howArd, dvM Houston Zoo veterinarian

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