kissing black swans and herpes ?? + NOT SO HERBIVOROUS AT NIGHT

[Andrew Taylor <>]

If anyone else is curious apparently most herpes viruses are thought to
be host specific and not spread between unrelated species.

Herpes simplex virus 1, the common cause of cold sources, is one of
few confirmed exceptions and can be transitted to a range of primates
and cause serious disease or death.  Its very unlikely you can pass it
to a swan, but don't kiss lemurs, tree shrews, marmosets, gorillas, etc.

Symmetrically there is  herpes virus found in macaques, Cercopithecine
herpesvirus 1, which causes them few problems but has a high mortality
rate in the few humans that have caught it - kiss a macaque and you
both could get a potentially fatal herpes infection.

There is a well-known herpes virus, duck herpesvirus 1, found in waterfowl
with a high mortality rate in waterfowl but not known from Australia
and not thought to be a threat to humans.

Andrew