By Dr. Adrien Emile Ntwari, field veterinarian, Rwanda

UPDATE:

Last week Dr. Gaspard conducted a follow-up monitoring visit and found Umutuzo’s abscess wound healing as well as reduced inflammation around the wound site. She was actively feeding and appeared in overall good health as seen in this photo. >>

Last Tuesday (April 8), Dr. Gaspard and I conducted an intervention to treat Umutuzo, an adult female mountain gorilla, for a breast abscess.  Late that morning, we trekked to Amahoro group in Volcanoes National Park, finding the gorillas around mid-day. Umutuzo was resting and occasionally feeding.

Since March 26, along with daily tracker reports, we had been monitoring Umutuzo for a slightly swollen left breast, a condition that did not appear to affect her activities and overall health. We had conducted a follow-up veterinary assessment on April 1 and observed that the swelling appeared to be more like an abscess but we were not able to immediately confirm through visual assessment alone. We decided to conduct another veterinary assessment in the next week.

The morning of our intervention, one of our veterinary interns, Dr. Emmanuel Kubwimana, sent us a photo of Umutuzo. It was immediately clear that the swelling was indeed an abscess – her breast was significantly more swollen, red and tender-looking, and the surrounding tissue was severely inflamed. Gaspard and I gathered our field hospital kit and raced to the park.

We successfully darted Umutuzo with anesthesia so we could perform an emergency procedure to drain the abscess and treat the bacterial infection with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.

Umutuzo recovered well from the anesthesia and rejoined her group. We will keep a close eye on her and the wound until it has fully healed.

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