A baby giant anteater rides on its mother's back in its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. Researchers in Tennessee say they diagnosed an outbreak of influenza in giant anteaters in the Nashville Zoo. A baby giant anteater rides on its mother's back in its enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. Researchers in Tennessee say they diagnosed an outbreak of influenza in giant anteaters in the Nashville Zoo. (Ken Bohn/Zoological Society of San Diego/Canadian Press)

Researchers in Tennessee are reporting they have diagnosed an outbreak of influenza in giant anteaters at the Nashville Zoo.

The outbreak, which took place in March 2007, involved infection with a human influenza A virus, of the H1N1 subtype.

It's believed the outbreak in the 11 adult anteaters was triggered by a caregiver who was working while sick with a respiratory infection.

It's not clear if the caregiver infected all the animals or if there was some anteater-to-anteater spread of the virus, but all the animals survived.

The researchers say viruses isolated from nasal swabs taken from the animals were virtually identical to the human H1N1 viruses that were circulating in Tennessee at the time.

The research appears in the July issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.