A serological survey of brucellosis in wild ungulate species from five game parks in Zimbabwe

Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research

 
 
Field Value
 
Title A serological survey of brucellosis in wild ungulate species from five game parks in Zimbabwe
 
Creator Motsi, Tatenda R. Tichiwangana, Shadreck C. Matope, Gift Mukarati, Norman L.
 
Subject wildlife; diseases; zoonosis; brucellosis Seroprevalence; brucellosis; African buffalo; impala; white and black rhinoceros; wildlife-livestock interface
Description A retrospective serosurvey was carried out between 2009 and 2012 to detect antibodies to Brucella spp. in free-ranging African wildlife ungulates from five selected game parks in Zimbabwe. Samples were drawn from wildlife-livestock interface and non-interface areas in Zimbabwe. A total of 270 serum samples from four different species, namely African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) (n=106), impala (Aepyceros melampus) (n = 72), black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) (n= 45) and white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) (n = 47), were tested. The percentage of positive samples was 17.0% in buffalo (18/106; 95% CI: 9.72% – 24.1%) and 1.4% in impala (1/72; 95% CI: 0% – 4.2%). No antibodies to Brucella spp. were detected in the two rhinoceros species. The difference in the percentage of seropositive cases between buffalo and impala was significant (p 0.05). Seropositivity to Brucella spp. was higher (19.1%) in adult buffalo compared with juveniles and sub-adults younger than six years (5.9%). Further, seropositivity was marginally higher (20.4%) in animals from wildlife-livestock interface areas than in those from non-interface areas (13.45%; OR = 1.45) although the difference was not statistically significant. The study showed that brucellosis could be more widespread in buffalo and may circulate in this species independently in the absence of contact with cattle, whilst rhinoceros may be considered less susceptible to brucellosis. The role of the wildlife-livestock interface in the epidemiology of brucellosis in wildlife and livestock is probably overstated but needs to be explored further.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Central Veterinary Laboratory and University of Zimbabwe.
Date 2013-09-18
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed Article Laboratory analysis
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ojvr.v80i1.586
 
Source Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research; Vol 80, No 1 (2013); 4 pages 2219-0635 0030-2465
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/586/904 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/586/905 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/586/906 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/586/903
 
Coverage Zimbabwe Contemporary Mixed wildlife species, age and sex
Rights Copyright (c) 2013 Tatenda R. Motsi, Shadreck C. Tichiwangana, Gift Matope, Norman L. Mukarati https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0
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