Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990                   TAG: 9003222730
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                 LENGTH: Medium

VA. DEALER, OTHERS ORDERED TO HALT MONKEY IMPORTS

In notices to Worldwide Primates of Miami, Charles River Primates Corp. of Port Washington, N.Y., and Hazleton Research Products Inc. of Reston, Va., CDC Director William L. Roper said CDC inspectors had found "inadequate" isolation and quarantine conditions at the three facilities this week.

Effective today, "your registration to import non-human primates into the United States will be revoked," Roper ordered the three importers.

The three are among four importers who handle 90 percent of U.S. monkey imports, according to CDC officials. The fourth facility was inspected and found to be in compliance with CDC guidelines, and no action has been taken there.

Meanwhile, the State of New York Department of Health has announced that effective Friday, no monkeys will be allowed into New York through John F. Kennedy International Airport unless accompanied by written documentation that they have been quarantined for at least 60 days prior to shipment, and tested negative for filovirus - the family of virus that includes Ebola virus.

JFK is the airport of entry for about 80 percent of the 20,000 monkeys imported into the United States each year, according to New York health officials.

The concerns arose after Ebola virus - known in pre-AIDS days as the deadliest virus in the world - was spotted in the United States in November in three monkeys at the Hazleton facility in Virginia. In January, an Ebola-related virus turned up in a monkey in a Pennsylvania laboratory.