*By Pit Hok Yau* Twelve monkeys at Hong Kong’s Zoological and Botanical Gardens have now died, with the deaths of 11 confirmed to have been the result of melioidosis, a bacterial infection likely stemming from contaminated soil disturbed during digging work in the gardens earlier this month. A conservation department official said the bacteria is common in Asia, with similar incidents in other zoos. A health officer assured the public the incident is “an isolated infection that happened in an individual zoo. We believe it will have a small impact on residents and people should not be overly wo…
