Rinderpest epidemic in wild ruminants in Kenya 1993‐97

Abstract

A severe epidemic of rinderpest, affecting mainly wild ruminants, occurred between 1993 and 1997 in East Africa. Buffalo (Syncerus caffer), eland (Taurotragus oryx) and lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) were highly susceptible. The histopathological changes, notably individual epithelial cell necrosis with syncytia formation, were consistent with an infection with an epitheliotrophic virus. Serology, the polymerase chain reaction, and virus isolation confirmed the diagnosis and provided epidemiological information. The virus was related to a strain which was prevalent in Kenya in the 1960s, of a second lineage (II), and distinct from isolations of rinderpest virus in the region since 1986. The source of the virus was presumed to be infected cattle from the Eastern region of Kenya and Somalia. The pathogenicity of the virus varied during the epidemic. The mortality in buffalo populations was estimated to be up to 80 per cent, and population data suggested that the virus had an adverse effect on a wide range of species. The virus caused only a mild disease in cattle, with minimal mortality. The results confirmed the importance of wildlife as sentinels of the disease, but although wildlife were important in the spread of the virus, they did not appear to act as reservoirs of infection.

Long-Term Sterilizing Immunity to Rinderpest in Cattle Vaccinated with a Recombinant Vaccinia Virus Expressing High Levels of the Fusion and Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins

“…While animals exposed to the whole virus will test positive, those vaccinated with v2RVFH will test negative in this system. A recent outbreak of rinderpest in Kenya and Tanzania was caused by a strain of RPV (type 2 lineage) that is mild to cattle yet highly virulent to wildlife, killing up to 80% of wild ruminants (1,16). Cycles of infection with strains that differ in virulence between livestock and wildlife may be the mechanism by which RPV is maintained in nature.…”

Emerging infectious diseases and animal social systems

“…For example, canine distemper virus has had devastating effects on African wild dogs and lions, as well as on aquatic mammals such as seals and porpoises (Osterhaus et al 1995;Roelke-Parker et al 1996;Kennedy et al 2000;Funk et al 2001), and outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever have drastically impacted populations of African apes (Walsh et al 2003;Leroy et al 2004;Pourrut et al 2005;Bermejo et al 2006). Similarly, periodic eruptions of rinderpest have had adverse effects on a wide range of ungulates (Rossiter 2001), with buffalo mortality approaching 80% in some populations during a recent epidemic of rinderpest (Kock et al 1999), and the ongoing decline of amphibian populations has been linked with disease outbreaks caused by a chytridiomycete fungus (Berger et al 1998;Daszak et al 1999Daszak et al , 2003.…”

Population regulation of African buffalo in the Mara–Serengeti ecosystem

“…Disease has been eliminated as a primary cause of the Mara buffalo declines (Kock et al 1999). Specifically, rinderpest and other diseases, particularly anthrax and bovine tuberculosis, were excluded from causing the 1984-85 or 1993-94 declines in buffalo numbers in the Mara or in the adjacent Serengeti Park (Metzger et al 2010).…”

“…Since then there has been only one documented outbreak of rinderpest in the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, in 1982 (P. B. Rossiter, unpubl. data;Anderson et al 1990;Kock et al 1999). The actual mortality attributed to this outbreak was low, probably because of the restricted area affected by the virus (Anderson et al 1990).…”