A yellow fever epidemic that is killing humans in Brazil also is causing the deadliest outbreak of the disease in decades among monkeys here, undercutting biodiversity in their long-endangered Atlantic Forest habitat. Nearly all the human and monkey deaths caused by yellow fever have occurred in Atlantic Forest regions of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo states. The tropical and subtropical woodland, which runs through 17 coastal states, has dwindled to 12.5% of its original size since the start of the Portuguese colonial era, making it the major Brazilian biome where endemic flora and fauna is at greatest risk of extinction. In the Atlantic Forest, the yellow fever virus incubates in Haemagogus and Sabethes mosquitoes, whose females transmit it to humans and monkeys. Female mosquitoes... [Log in to read more]