VETERINARIANS DETECT TUBERCULOSIS IN KNP ELEPHANT AND RHINO

[Sprocky]

Ref: 9/2/2 – 16 - KNP
Tuesday, December 13, 2016 Tuberculosis 1 of 1
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
VETERINARIANS DETECT TUBERCULOSIS IN KNP ELEPHANT AND RHINO
Tuberculosis (TB) has recently been diagnosed in three new species in the Kruger
National Park (KNP), including a black and a white rhinoceros as well as an elephant.
Both rhinoceros species were infected with bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis),
which is commonly found in other animals within the Park while human tuberculosis
(Mycobacterium tuberculosis) was diagnosed in an adult bull elephant.
Bovine and human tuberculosis are caused by related bacteria that can infect any
mammal. The presence of these organisms in an ecosystem can result in potential
spread between species, including transmission to new hosts. In the KNP, bovine TB is
mainly found in buffalo but has also been diagnosed regularly in kudu, warthog and lion.
The disease is infrequently diagnosed in other species.
“It is possible that TB diagnosis in these three new species is related to the current KNP
drought conditions. A lack of food would weaken an animal’s immune system and
predispose it to becoming infected with tuberculosis. The disease was detected in these
species as a result of ongoing disease monitoring programmes conducted by Veterinary
Wildlife Services and State Veterinarians”; said the South African National Parks
(SANParks) GM: Veterinary Wildlife Services, Dr Markus Hofmeyr.
Both human and bovine TB in animals are diseases that are monitored and controlled in
South Africa by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (DAFF).
Regulatory measures to prevent spread of disease will therefore have an impact on how
wildlife is moved from the KNP to areas without TB. To minimize risk of spread and
increase understanding of disease in these species, SANParks will be working with the
State Veterinary Services, researchers, and other stakeholders to develop a disease
management plan to enable translocations so that healthy rhinoceros (and elephant)
from KNP can continue to play a role in national and international conservation
programs. Rhino translocation out of KNP remains a key approach in the conservation of
this species and is a critical component of the national rhino strategy.
.
“Our current understanding suggests that rhinoceros and elephant are naturally resistant
to tuberculosis and the disease is not expected to impact these species’ populations in
KNP. Continuous disease monitoring programs in both black and white rhinoceros and
elephant will be implemented. Bovine TB has become endemic in the KNP buffalo
population after it was introduced in the 1950s by infected cattle and has to date not had
a detectable population effect”, explained Hofmeyr.
In conclusion, Hofmeyr indicated that it is important to note that guests to the KNP are
not at risk of contracting TB from wild animals if they stick to the rules and stay in their
vehicles. Risks of transmission to humans from animals (mainly infected cattle), occur if
people consume infected carcasses or drink infected milk (unpasteurised). The majority
of cases of TB in humans are due to contact with other infected humans and not
animals.
….Ends
Issued by
South African National Parks: Kruger National Park - Communications & Marketing
Department
Media enquiries:
William Mabasa, SANParks Acting Head of Communications, Kruger National Park.
Contact: Tel: 012 426 5170/013 735 4363, cell: 082 807 3919 or email:
william.mabasa@sanparks.org

[Richprins]

Thanks, Sprocks!

Spoke to Dr de Vos and he says the elephant/human thing is unheard of...but if they say so they say so?

He wonders how on earth human pathogens could have entered a wild elephant, maybe it is just a similar mutation?

TB in humans and cattle is being determinedly eradicated lately!

[Lisbeth]

I do not like it at all

Lucky that it has been discovered and is monitored

[Flutterby]

Scary!

[RogerFraser]

https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/news/kru ... t-14538834

Concerns abound that elephants at the Kruger National Park were at the risk of human-borne tuberculosis after one was killed by the disease.
To eliminate the fears, scientists at the country’s main national park were conducting tests on the animals.

On Wednesday, a team led by Professor Michele Miller from Stellenbosch University conducted tests on a young elephant.

Miller said they were hoping to sporadically test between 60 and 70 elephants in the park.

“We just opportunistically found it (disease) on an elephant that had recently died,” said Miller. “We conducted an examination on him and we were able to identify the bacteria, which is human TB.”


This was the first case of human TB bacteria in the park, she said. Only the bovine TB had been documented in various species in Kruger National Park before this case.

“Human TB in elephants has been documented in captive elephants in zoos around the world. Most recently it has been found in wild animals in India,” Miller said.

Human TB in animals appeared to be an emerging disease, she said.

“TB is something we are trying to figure out; what the impact is on both the individual or the population. We don’t know if they can get infected and maybe cleared like people,” she added.

The science research team was at its infant stages of understanding how wildlife species were contracting the disease.

“In terms of transmission, although we think human TB is a respiratory disease (inhaling the bacteria and becoming infected), we don’t think an elephant would be in close contact with a human and be able to inhale the bacteria,” she said.

“But if a human contaminated some material where there was food discarded or material an elephant was exploring in their environment with their trunk. We are speculating, we don’t know for sure at this point.”

Regarding the tests, Miller said the team would be unable to test the park’s elephant population but would target those in its southern region.

“The southern part of the park is at greater risk to exposure to human TB from visitors.

Our goal is to test a number of elephants here (southern region), hopefully about 60 and 70,” she said.

This, she added, “would give us an idea if we find several animals which indicate that there’s a higher prevalence and it’s a concern.

“If we don’t find any other cases, then it would mean it was just a sporadic case, and it’s less of a concern.

@Sihle_MG

[Lisbeth]

Not nice! Nature is always alert

[RogerFraser]

What is strange is the human borne type of disease .I remember being told that diseases does not often jump between species but of late we seem to have allot more of these cross species diseases ie bird flu ,swine flu now TB

[nan]

is so right.... alas

[Lisbeth]

Buffaloes doing OK with TB, now elephants are a worry

Environment 27.12.2018 06:10 am - Amanda Watson


Recent studies show Kruger National Park buffalo may be developing resistance to the effects of tuberculosis. Picture: Amanda Watson

In March, it was announced tests were being done to establish the spread of the human strain within African elephants.
The Citizen recently sat down with South African National Parks’ disease ecology scientist Dr Danny Govender to establish the state of play of tuberculosis (TB) in the Kruger National Park which has a long history of affecting buffaloes, more recently lions and now elephants.

Tuberculosis is a one-size-fits-all disease, with strains having crossed the line between species.

In March, it was announced tests were being done to establish the spread of the human strain within African elephants.

“The elephant TB is quite different to what we’ve been having historically,” says Govender, general manager of the savanna-arid node for Scientific Services based in Skukuza. “… it has been diagnosed in zoos for a long time in megaherbivores such as rhino and elephant.”

Is Kruger a hotbed of diseased and dying animals? Yes, and no.

In the 1990-91 drought, the disease was spread by compromised animals who coughed all over the grasslands and were eaten by predators and scavengers, and in the late 1990s, the disease began to present much more often. Up to 20% of the buffaloes in the south of the park was estimated to be affected and over the years it made its way north until 2012, when the last large-scale TB count was done.

The disease levelled off, leaving a five to 10% prevalence and a 30 to 35% prevalence in the south, Govender says.

A count had not been done since the last drought, but the survival rates seem to suggest there was a high level of resistance. There might be a small chance the disease could burn itself out, or a survival-of-the-fittest stance should be taken.

This was where ecosystem management came into play, to manage numbers by controlling water access, which allowed the strongest animals to survive. It appears to have worked, with numbers still higher than the culling-maintained herds of the 1990s after the drought. Then, the spillover hosts, such as lions, other predators and scavengers, became of concern.

Govender says a study by former state veterinarian Dr Dewalt Keet to see if prides were being destabilised, found the south of the park more susceptible – mainly due to prey density being higher, which had the knock-on effect of a high turnover in lion hierarchy due to more competition for resources.

A later study confirmed the findings, but found the destabilisation had little to do with the disease itself.

“Right now, we’re keeping tabs on the system,” Govender says. “We need to reflect on the effects of the drought, to see the level of resistance which came through, go through another wet period to see how the animal numbers are doing, and then another drought so we can build a better picture of what the longterm effects of the situation is.”

She noted that in zoos, animals were generally diagnosed with human TB, usually from contact with keepers, and would develop chronic TB which killed them.

“By the time the disease is diagnosed, it has usually progressed quite far. Treatment consists of six different kinds of antibiotic,” says Govender.

Because dosage depends on weight, an elephant needs kilograms of antibiotics over six months, which is expensive.

“The problem with vaccines is that often animals have been primed by being exposed to various strains of TB and the vaccine doesn’t elicit the desired, strong, response.”

This was particularly common to animals which shared mud baths.

INFO

Ancient disease

In her 2015 inaugural lecture, “Tuberculosis in South African wildlife: why is it important”, Professor Michele A Miller of the department of biomedical sciences at the Stellenbosch University faculty of medicine and health sciences, referred to TB as an “ancient” disease, having been found in the bones of prehistoric mastodons.
The spread of bovine TB to additional species was documented in the Kruger National Park from the early 1990s.
“These species included lions, cheetahs, greater kudus, baboons, leopards, warthogs and banded mongooses,” said Miller.
She noted the first case of bovine TB was diagnosed in a black rhinoceros in 1970, while buffalo were found to be infected in 1986 and lions, greater kudus and bush pigs have been infected since the 1990s.
Miller is currently conducting the research into the spread of TB in elephants.
– amandaw@citizen.co.za