Abstract
AbstractThe burden of anthrax in wildlife is demonstrated through high numbers of sudden mortalities among herbivore species, including endangered animal species. East Africa is home of multiple species of faunal wildlife numbering in the millions but there are limited disease surveillance programmes, resulting in a paucity of information on the role of anthrax and other infectious diseases on declining wildlife populations in the region. We reviewed historical data on anthrax outbreaks from Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) spanning from 1999 to 2017 in Kenya to determine the burden, characteristics and spatial distribution of anthrax outbreaks. A total of 51 anthrax outbreaks associated with 1014 animal deaths were reported across 20 of 60 wildlife conservation areas located in six of the seven agro-ecological zones. Overall, 67% of the outbreaks were reported during the dry seasons, affecting 24 different wildlife species. Over 90% (22 of 24) of the affected species were herbivore, including 12 grazers, five browsers and five mixed grazers and browsers. Buffaloes (23.5%), black rhinos (21.6%) and elephants (17.6%) were the most frequently affected species. Our findings demonstrate the extensive geographic distribution of wildlife anthrax in the country, making it one of the important infectious diseases that threaten wildlife conservation.
Highlights
The high loss of faunal diversity in national parks and a growing number of endangered wildlife species have highlighted the need for an improved wildlife disease surveillance in order to identify prevalent diseases for prevention and control [1, 2]
A total of 1014 wild animal deaths associated with the 51 anthrax outbreaks were recorded, with 81% (N = 816) of these deaths occurring in the Lake Nakuru conservation area during six separate outbreaks
When we defined the dominant AEZ for each conservation area where an anthrax outbreak occurred, we found that the 51 outbreaks were spread across six of the seven AEZs, with the exception of the agro-alpine zone that did not have any reported outbreaks (Table 1)
Summary
The high loss of faunal diversity in national parks and a growing number of endangered wildlife species have highlighted the need for an improved wildlife disease surveillance in order to identify prevalent diseases for prevention and control [1, 2]. In sub-Saharan Africa, wildlife disease surveillance systems are limited to responding to large outbreaks or narrowly focused retrospective and prospective studies, approaches that have helped in implementing disease outbreak control strategies, estimating specific disease burden and identifying wildlife reservoirs of livestock or human diseases [5,6,7,8]. An anthrax outbreak in Luangwa river valley in Zambia resulted in the death of >4000 hippopotami in addition to buffalos and elephants [6]. Another outbreak in Malilangwe wildlife reserve in Zimbabwe resulted in the death of almost all the kudu, and 40–70% of bushbucks, waterbucks, nyala, buffalos and roan antelopes [7]. A recent study in Kenya reported three anthrax outbreaks over a period of 4 years in the same locality of Rift valley in Kenya that
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