Abstract
Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is an emerging tick-borne zoonotic viral disease with the potential of causing public health emergencies. However, less is known about the role of wildlife and livestock in spreading the virus. Therefore, we aimed to assess how the interactions between African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and cattle may influence the seroprevalence of CCHF across livestock-wildlife management systems in Kenya. The study included archived sera samples from buffalo and cattle from wildlife only habitats (Lake Nakuru National Park and Solio conservancy), open wildlife-livestock integrated habitats (Maasai Mara ecosystem and Meru National Park), and closed wildlife-livestock habitats (Ol Pejeta Conservancy) in Kenya. We analyzed 191 buffalo and 139 cattle sera using IDvet multispecies, double-antigen IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The seroprevalence toward Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) was significantly higher for buffalo compared to cattle (75.3% and 28.1%, respectively, p < 0.001). We obtained the highest seroprevalence among buffalo of 92.1% in closed wildlife only systems compared to 28.8% and 46.1% prevalence in closed-integrated and open-integrated systems, respectively. The regression coefficients were all negative for cattle compared to buffalo in both closed-integrated and open-integrated compared to wildlife only system. Our results show that CCHFV circulates among the diverse animal community in Kenya in spatially disconnected foci. The habitat overlap between cattle and buffalo makes cattle a "bridge species" or superspreader host for CCHFV and increases transmission risks to humans. The effect of animal management system on prevalence is depended on tick control on the cattle and not the animal per se. We conclude that buffalo, a host with a longer life span than livestock, is a reservoir and may serve as a sentinel population for longitudinal surveillance of CCHFV.
Highlights
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which first emerged as a human disease in the Crimea in 1944 and later in Africa in 1956, is caused by a virus in the familyNairoviridae, genus Orthonairovirus family (Simpson et al 1967, Hoogstraal 1979)
Out of the 191 buffalo and 139 cattle samples, we obtained an estimated prevalence of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) at 75.3% and 28.1% for buffalo and cattle, respectively
Analysis of sampled areas revealed a prevalence of 92.1% in closed wildlife ecosystems (LNNP and Solio Conservancy (SC)) compared to 28.8% and 46.1% prevalence in closed integrated (OPC) and open integrated systems (MME and Meru National Park (MNP)), respectively (Table 1)
Summary
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which first emerged as a human disease in the Crimea in 1944 and later in Africa in 1956, is caused by a virus in the familyNairoviridae, genus Orthonairovirus family (Simpson et al 1967, Hoogstraal 1979). Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which first emerged as a human disease in the Crimea in 1944 and later in Africa in 1956, is caused by a virus in the family. Rates of 5–30% (Bente et al 2013) and its geographical expansion coupled with lack of a widely approved antiviral drugs or effective vaccines, CCHFV is potentially a public health risk of international concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) listed CCHFV among diseases of public health priority for research and development (Mehand et al 2018). To advance research in the development of a vaccine that may offer a wider coverage, a global representative of CCHFV genotypes must be studied and virus evolution and phylogeography understood
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