Case report: tularaemia in a white-handed gibbon (<i>Hylobates lar</i>), Germany

In 2021, a white-handed gibbon (<i>Hylobates lar</i>) succumbed to illness shortly after transfer from one zoo to another in Germany, due to <i>Francisella tularensis</i> subsp. <i>holarctica</i> infection. To determine the source of infection, whole genome sequencing of the gibbon-derived isolate was performed and wild pest rodents (and captive squirrels) from both zoos were screened for <i>F. tularensis</i>. The <i>F. tularensis</i> whole genome sequence obtained from the gibbon was closely related to previous subclade B.281 sequences obtained from hares from Baden-Wuerttemberg, the same region where the gibbon was first housed. However, <i>F. tularensis</i> DNA was detected in one Norway rat from the receiving zoo. Therefore, neither zoo can be excluded as the source of infection.