Possible Goundou in Gorillas
It is generally recognised that naturally occurring treponematosis is
found in some African nonhuman primates. In addition, bone lesions of
treponematosis have been identified in wild chimpanzees and gorillas (Lovell
et al. 2000), while yaws has been documented and photographed in gorillas
in Republic of Congo (Levréro et al. 2007). It is not yet known
which pathogenic agent is responsible in these cases, but it is thought
to be the spirochaete Treponema pertenue, which causes the disease
commonly known as yaws (or framboesia). This is a social disease that
usually affects children and adolescents; it is endemic to hot, moist,
humid areas in the tropics, and is particularly persistent in African
Pygmies and some tropical Asian populations.
Spirochaetes are a form of bacteria, distinguished by their spiral shape.
They include the types of bacteria which cause diseases such as relapsing
fever and leptospirosis, and the treponemes, which cause yaws, syphilis
and pinta (known as "treponematoses").
While there is a wealth of literature documenting endemic yaws amongst
people in the former Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the
Congo), it has never been recorded in wild great apes in that country.
On the other side of the Congo River, in the Republic of Congo, however,
there are areas where yaws has been reported to be rife in both humans
and apes. It is worth noting in this respect that many African nonhuman
primates, including gorillas, have tested serologically positive for treponematosis
without showing any obvious sign of disease; in humans, latent yaws may
occur when secondary lesions heal spontaneously and the disease enters
the non-infectious, clinically-negative latent period that can last the
sufferer's entire life.
Primary and Secondary Yaws
Yaws progresses in three distinct stages - primary, secondary and tertiary.
It begins with the development of the primary skin lesion at the site
of exposure to the pathogen, usually an abrasion or cut. Incubation period
is 9-90 days (on av. 21 days) and the disease normally lasts 3-6 months,
but it may heal spontaneously before the appearance of secondary papillomas
(small outgrowths). If not, it appears as a red patch, called an erythemous
macule, which enlarges and may ulcer-ate. About 3 weeks after the primary
(mother yaw) lesion appears, the serology becomes positive and within
weeks proceeds to the secondary stage.
Treponemes spread systematically via the circulation and, 6-16 weeks after
the primary lesion, papules (dome-shaped swellings) break out around the
mother yaw; these become generalised and spread over the body surface.
These lesions are common around the nose and mouth, and they exude fluids
rich in treponemes that are highly contagious, particularly during the
rainy seasons, and are easily transmitted to unaffected individuals via
direct skin contact; there is also some evidence to suggest that spirochaetes
may be transported by insects feeding on open sores, and even by contact
with treponemes occurring on non-living surfaces. During its early life
the disease can be treated with antibiotics, and treponemes are in fact
very sensitive to even mild antiseptic chemicals. If left untreated, however,
the affliction may be characterised by periods of remission and relapse
that can persist for decades. Nevertheless, recurring infection can create
bone deformities, soft tissue sloughing, weakness and possible reproductive
inefficiency.
Gangosa
Gangosa (Spanish for "muffled voice") is a destructive ulcerative
rhinopharyngitis (inflammation of the nose and throat) that may occur
during the second phase of a yaws infection. The condition normally starts
in the nose, on the junction of the mucous membrane with the skin close
to the septum, which ulcerates and spreads inwards, destroying the whole
of the nose, palate and pharynx until a large funnel-shaped cavity appears
in the centre of the face (Trenouth 1975). Saddle-shaped nasal deformity
due to ulceration of the nasal septum may be present. In extreme cases
the ulceration may spread through the nose to involve the eyelids, and
lead to scarring and consequent ulceration of the cornea.
G. W. Harley (in Trenouth 1975) selected 284 patients with nose and throat
lesions in from 5597 cases diagnosed as yaws. He observed 41 cases of
goundou (see below), of which 19 were associated with lesions of active
gangosa. He concluded that goundou was related to early gangosa.
Tertiary Yaws
Tertiary yaws develops in less than 10% of affected humans and is probably
equally uncommon in nonhuman primates. It occurs several years after the
primary infection, leading to severely deformed bones and joint lesions
which consist of new bone formation, destruction of bone by soft tumours,
and osteomyelitis (bony inflammation). This late stage of the disease
is non-contagious. Tertiary lesions are mostly restricted to the postcranial
skeleton, but when cranial lesions occur they most commonly appear on
the face, in contrast to the cranial lesions of venereal syphilis (Treponema
pallidum), which are difficult to distinguish from those of yaws but
are more likely to occur on the cranial vault. Gorillas appear to be more
prone to progression to tertiary yaws than chimpanzees.
Periostitis
This is a reaction to inflammation of the periosteum, the thin layer of
tissue that adheres to the outer surfaces of the bones. Because the periosteum
contains bone-producing cells, one way it responds to inflammation is
to lay down new bone tissue, producing a layer that has the general appearance
of a roughened plaque-like deposit, punctuated by small channels and small
holes caused by blood vessels (Lovell et al. 2000). In time, if the infection
does not persist, the bone will heal and remodel itself; but persistent
infection may initiate vigorous bone replacement, leading to extreme overgrowth.
Periostitis is most commonly localised and is frequently indicative of
inflammation due to injury, but it may also occur as a response to a number
of infectious diseases, including yaws. In such cases, periostitis may
be generalised throughout the skeleton. If the infection invades the bone
marrow it produces osteomyelitis (bony inflammation), which results in
the destruction of bone tissue.
Goundou
Goundou (also called "big nose") is a rare manifestation of
tertiary yaws, produced by bilateral bony swelling of the maxilla or upper
jaw bone (Trenouth 1975). The lesions are caused by deposition of new
bone under the periosteum. Rarely, unilateral cases occur, and as the
extosis (bony outgrowth) becomes larger, the nasal passages are obstructed
and later on the line of vision is interfered with. Indeed, the expansion
may displace the eye and destroy it. Although there were earlier reports
of the disease, Maclaud (1895) was the first to document the term "goundou",
the name used locally in the upper region of Niger. He described the malady
as consisting of nasal tumours. Interestingly, he related that some species
of monkey were susceptible to goundou, and he observed a captive young
chimpanzee with double nasal tumours, although he did not examine it.
Goundou in Gorillas?
Cranial deformities have been observed in a number of gorilla specimens
from museum collections and from photographs of animals killed in the
wild. These skulls exhibit robust overgrowth of bone, principally in the
malar (cheek) region, both bilaterally and unilaterally, presumably due
to persistent periostitis. Encroachment of the orbital cavities is so
common as to be almost obligatory. Some of the protuberances are so grotesque
that it is difficult to visualise the appearance of the animals in life.
These deformities are quite unlike those described for chimpanzees in
which goundou is suspected, which are much closer in appearance to the
human disease.
Specimen A: Incomplete skull of adult male (sagittal crest) in
the collection of the Paris Natural History Museum. The cranium exhibits
extreme periostitis manifested in globular bone formations that are well-calcified.
Pettit (1909), who examined the specimen, gave a height of 13.5 cm for
the right growth and 11 cm for the left. Bilateral bone overgrowth in
the malar, and with involvement of the orbital cavity close to the cheek,
compares favourably with the deformities of the present series of skulls
for which goundou is suggested.
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Specimen A Photo: Colin Groves |
Specimen B (in Petit 1920): Complete skull of an adult male that
formed part of the private collection of M, Rouppert, a Parisian osteologist,
and is now in the Paris museum; it was obtained in the interior of the
Republic of Congo. The specimen displays a large glob of bone on the right
cheekbone, with a similar deformity beginning to form on the left side.
It was described simply as "exostosis" (bony outgrowth).
Specimen C: Adult male, one of two, obtained from Bossango in the
former French colony of Oubangui-Chari (now the Central African Republic)
and presented to the Paris Natural History Museum; they were examined
by A. Lévri. The cranium displays multiple bone overgrowth on the
cheekbones bilaterally, two protuberances on the right and one on the
left. The bone of the two huge masses on the right side were described
as porous and spongy, which may be suggestive of osteomyelitis, while
the protuberance in the left was likened to a "handlebar" and
measured 6 cm. The double outgrowths were compared to "champagne
corks", measuring 3.5 cm, with a diameter of 5 cm, and had deformed
the right orbital cavity. The condition was diagnosed as "goundou"
(Seques 1929).
The second cranium (Specimen D) is remarkable for its astonishingly
high sagittal crest, a "fortress of bone", that Seques thought
was probably the result of goundou, he said was prevalent in apes of that
particular region. However, there are no obvious lesions or other abnormalities
of the skull, and it may simply be a genetic anomaly.
Specimens E and F are of wild-killed gorillas photographed by Armand
Denis in the area around Ewo in what is now the Republic of Congo in 1942,
and reproduced in Schultz (1950). Specimen E shows a condition closely
resembling that of gangosa in humans (which, as described above, is a
disease believed to be allied to goundou), while specimen F exhibits unilateral
swelling of the zygomatic or cheek bone, the site of infection apparently
being the right eye.
Specimen G (pers. comm. Ulrich Roeder, many years ago): Perfect
skull of adult male killed by Pygmies at Lolodorf, southwest Cameroon,
in 1979. The animal was part of a group in which it was the dominant male.
It illustrates the usual accumulation of reconstituted bone in the cheek
region bilaterally, with the distinctive "handlebar" deformity.
The right orbital cavity has suffered trauma on the rim of the cheek.
Discussion
If these specimens do indeed represent goundou in gorillas then it is
problematic. Whereas soft tissue lesions are similar in both gorillas
and humans suffering from yaws, manifestations of bone hypertrophy that
typify goundou are very different in the two species. In humans the disease
is expressed on the nose and the upper jaw (maxilla), and is manifested
in symmetrical oval-shaped swellings in the maxilla on both sides, with
the long axis pointed downwards and outwards; if the infection is durable
these swellings can grow to the size of an orange, or even larger. In
the gorilla, however, bone hypertrophy is related to the malar (cheekbone),
bilaterally or unilaterally, often invading the orbits (eye sockets),
and bone expansion can be extreme and invasive. Of the 5 skulls described
only one is free of encroachment or deformity of the orbit, while in 3
of the remaining 4 specimens the right eye has been traumatised. This
suggests that the original site of injury or infection may have occurred
in the eye region.
The exaggerated and sometimes grotesque bone formations in gorillas may
have several explanations: the greater volume and density of gorilla bone
tissue, particularly in the male, with this tissue being more robust in
the cheekbone (zygoma) than in the maxilla; a more aggressive periosteal
response to infection or injury in an extremely sensitive area (i.e. the
eyes), resulting in vigorous, defensive bone replacement; and the age
and virulence of the infection. Another factor could be that the pathogens
involved are actually slightly distinct in humans and gorillas. The most
compelling argument relating the two is that reports of goundou in gorillas
appear to originate from those regions of Africa where yaws is endemic
in human populations. A convenient explanation might be that human goundou
represents tertiary yaws in the maxilla, and gorilla goundou represents
tertiary yaws in the malar.
Levréro et al. (2007) describe a female gorilla in Republic of
Congo that was afflicted with a severe yaws infection. The unfortunate
animal was so ravaged by the disease as to be reduced to a skeletal condition.
She had lived with a breeding group for at least 18 months, and during
7 subsequent visits to a forest clearing before disappearing, solitary
males or adolescent males from groups that she approached rejected her
and behaved aggressively towards her. Both a solitary life for a female
gorilla and the rejection of an adult female by males is practically unheard
of.
Don Cousins
References
Levréro, F. et al. (2007): Yaws disease in a wild gorilla population
and its impact on the reproductive status of males. Amer. J. Phys. Anthropol.
132, 568-575
Lovell, N. C. et al. (2000): Skeletal evidence of probable treponemal
infection in free-ranging African apes. Primates, 41, 275-290
Maclaud, J. (1895): Notes sur une affection désignée la
boucle du Niger et le pays de Kong sous les noms de goundou et anakhre.
Arch. Med. Navale 63, 25-32
Petit, L. (1920): Notes sur le gorille. Bull. Soc. Zool, FR. (Paris) 45,
308-313
Pettit, A. (1909): Lesions osseuses chez deux singes (Cebus Fatuellus
L. et Gorilla Wymann). Bull. Soc. Path. Exot. 2, 220-223
Schultz, A. H. (1950): Morphological observations on gorillas. In: Gregory.
W. K. (ed.): The anatomy of the gorilla, pp. 227-251
Seques, F. (1929): Un cas diagnostique "goundou" chez le gorille.
Rev. Méd. D'Hyg. Trop. 21, 50-53
Trenouth, M. J. (1975): Goundou-tertiary yaws in the maxilla. Brit. J.
Oral. Surg. 13, 166-171
Don Cousins has had a lifetime interest in the great apes. He has worked in Twycross and Chessington zoos, and in 1957 visited Gabon to look for gorillas. He has researched and published widely on the subject and was a friend and colleague of Dian Fossey.