Milwaukee County Zoo officials and Children’s Hospital worked together recently for an usual request. A 3-year-old critically-ill bonobo needed assistance.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the doctor’s reaction:
“I have treated children for 35 years so it wasn’t that big of a stretch,” said O’Brien, respiratory clinical program coordinator at Children’s. “Honestly, when I saw this poor, sick, basically, child lying on the gurney, I went into ‘I’ve got to help her’ mode. That was my only thought.”
Bonobos share close to 98% of their genomes with humans. They’re extremely sensitive to human illnesses such as whooping cough, chicken pox, colds and influenza, which is why the zoo’s troop of 23 bonobos get flu shots every year. In fact, they get the exact same flu shot as humans.
Read more, at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
