ScienceNow is a national forum held every year in National Science Week to bring together scientists, the media and the public.

In the course of her PhD research, Dr Warren has made some significant discoveries, which she outlined at the forum.

In a major breakthrough, she revealed that the Hepatitis B virus found in confiscated pet orang-utans in Borneo - and thought to have originated from their contact with humans - also existed in wild populations as well.

Dr Warren was employed as a veterinarian and researcher at the Wanariset Orang-utan Reintroduction Centre in East Kalimantan from 1994 to 1999.

This research formed a major component of her recently released thesis, completed under the supervision of Murdoch Professor of Clinical Studies Ralph Swan.

“Orang-utans kept illegally as pets are susceptible to infection by diseases from both humans and domestic animals, creating a serious problem for reintroduction programs,” said Dr Warren.

“My thesis involved conducting research to determine the prevalence of specific viral infections in orang-utans at the rehabilitation centre.

“Study results indicated more than 42 per cent of individuals had been exposed to Hepatitis B virus, which is also highly endemic in humans in South-east Asia.”

She said that because of the close contact between humans and captive orang-utans, it had been commonly assumed that infection in orang-utans was of human origin.

“I questioned this assumption and, after finding evidence that a wild orang-utan at a mine site was infected with the hepatitis B virus, came to the conclusion that the orang-utan may have become infected through a virus that occurred naturally within the wild populations,” she explained.

To help prove this, Dr Warren conducted further research at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in the Netherlands where the viral DNA was sequenced and analysed to determine its origins.

“I discovered that the wild orang-utans were infected with a new hepatitis virus - subsequently named Orang-utan Hepadnavirus or OuHV – which dispelled the belief that orang-utans had developed Hepatitis B infection from humans,” she said.

“This means that orang-utans infected with OuHV would no longer need to remain in quarantine and could be rehabilitated and released.”

Dr Warren’s research has been recognised internationally and she was recently appointed a member of the the World Conservation Union (IUCN)/Species Survival Commission (SSC) Reintroduction Specialist Group.

Her research is supported financially by BHP-Minerals Melbourne, Pt Kaltim Prima Coal, the Merck Foundation and the Chicago Zoological Society.

Dr Warren is also conducting collaborative research with Professor Swan, the Department of Conservation and Land Management and Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre into the long-term health monitoring of bilbies being reintroduced into the South-west of Western Australia.