PDF《African buffalo (Syncerus caffery》

50 % and higher. Only the future will tell what the effect of the disease on the population dynamics of buffalo will be. Keywords: African buffalo, baboon, cheetah, epidemiology, Kruger National Park, kudu, leopard, lion, Mycobacterium bovis, South Africa, Syncerus caffer, tuberculosis

1 S.A. National Parks, P.O. Box X402, Skukuza, Kruger National Park,

1350 South Africa. Fax:

2713 7522974

3 Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort,

0110 Pretoria E-mail: [email protected]

2 Directorate of Animal Health, P.O. Box 12, Skukuza,

1350 South Africa

4 Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Private Bag X05, Onder- stepoort,

0110 Pretoria Accepted for publication

12 February 20Ot-Editor

119 Epidemiology of tuberculosis in African buffalo in Kruger National Park INTRODUCTION The host range of mycobacteria in non-domestic animals appears to be unlimited (Francis 1958). Tu- berculosis has become recognized as a common dis- ease of wild animals, particularly those closely as- sociated with man, such as in zoological gardens and primate colonies (Francis 1958;

Thoen &

Himes 1981). A few such cases have been diagnosed in captive wild animals in southern Africa, viz. spring- bok (Antidorcas marsupia/is) (Robinson 1953;

Hof- meyr 1956), giraffe (Giraffa came/oparda/is) (Mar- tinaglia 1930;

Basson, McCully, Kruger, Van Niekerk, Young, De Vos, Keep &

Ebedes 1971), black rhino- ceros (Oiceros bicornis), African buffalo, nyala (Tra- ge/aphus angasi) (Hofmeyr 1956) and primates (Fourie 1983). Paine and Martinaglia (1929) were the first to report an outbreak of mycobacteriosis in free-ranging wild animals in southern Africa. They described the dis- ease in kudu and duiker (Sy/vicapra grimmia), the causal organism being Mycobacterium bovis. Evi- dence of deaths and the presence of abscesses amongst springbok, bushbuck (Trage/aphus scrip- tus) and hare (Lepus spp.) in the vicinity, was also found. Martinaglia (1930) also described a strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (bovis) , which was isolated from a free-ranging giraffe. A disease con- dition in kudu that was known for many years in the farming community of the Grahamstown bush veld area, was later diagnosed as tuberculosis by Thor- burn and Thomas (1940). Robinson (1944) showed that a strain of M.bovis was involved in this outbreak. Keep and Basson (1973) reported a case of myco- bacteriosis in free-ranging black rhino from the Hlu- hluwe Game Reserve. More recently, the buffalo populations from Umfolosi and Hluhluwe game re- serves in Natal were also found to be infected (Cooper 1998). Further afield in Africa, tuberculosis has also been reported from free-ranging lechwe (Kobus /eche kafuensis) in Zambia (Gallagher, MacAdam, Sayer &

Van Lavieren 1972;

Clancey 1977;

Krauss, Roett- cher, Weiss, Danner &

Hubschle 1984). The first occurrence of tuberculosis in free-ranging African buffalo was reported by Guilbride, Rollinson , Mc- Anulty, Alley &

Wells (1963) in Uganda. They found eight animals with tuberculosis among

13 free-living buffalo shot in the Queen Elizabeth National Park (also known as Ruwenzori National Park). Thurlbeck, Butas, Mankiewicz &

Laws (1965), later confirmed the diagnosis by isolating M. bovis in one out of five thin buffalo. More recently, Woodford (1982 a,b) surveyed the Queen Elizabeth National Park for tu- berculosis and found that the disease had become endemic and was responsible for an annual mortal- ity of about

1 % of the

18000 buffalo inhabiting the Park. The disease was also found to have spilled