An epidemic of East Coast fever on a dairy farm in eastern Tanzania

Abstract

During the period August–September 1995, an epidemic of East Coast fever occurred at a dairy farm in Morogoro region of eastern Tanzania. Due to an intensive dipping scheme since 1970, a very unstable endemic status had been established in the animals. A breakdown in the dipping scheme caused a major disease outbreak; the dip wash was not changed for 18 months prior to the outbreak and dipping continued in a dip wash of unknown strength. There was also a delay in detecting the disease at an early stage. In total, 180 out of 432 (42%) of the cattle at the farm died — resulting in a loss of Tshs. 26 330 000 (US$ 42 879). The attack risk was nearly 77%. The outbreak points to the importance of adopting integrated strategies for the control of ticks and tick-borne diseases.