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Abstract
BackgroundThe African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a host for many pathogens known to cause economically important diseases and is often considered an important reservoir for livestock diseases. Theileriosis, heartwater, babesiosis and anaplasmosis are considered the most important tick-borne diseases of livestock in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in extensive economic losses to livestock farmers in endemic areas. Information on the distribution of tick-borne diseases and ticks is scarce in Northern Botswana. Nevertheless, this data is necessary for targeting surveillance and control measures in livestock production at national level.MethodsIn order to address this gap, we analyzed 120 blood samples from buffalo herds for the presence of common tick-borne haemoparasites causing disease in livestock, collected in two of the main wildlife areas of Northern Botswana: the Chobe National Park (CNP, n = 64) and the Okavango Delta (OD, n = 56).ResultsAnalysis of the reverse line blot (RLB) hybridization assay results revealed the presence of Theileria, Babesia, Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species, either as single or mixed infections. Among the Theileria spp. present, T. parva (60%) and T. mutans (37%) were the most prevalent. Other species of interest were Anaplasma marginale subsp. centrale (30%), A. marginale (20%), Babesia occultans (23%) and Ehrlichia ruminantium (6%). The indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) indicated 74% of samples to be positive for the presence of T. parva antibodies. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) detected the highest level of animals infected with T. parva (81% of the samples). The level of agreement between the tests for detection of T. parva positive animals was higher between qPCR and IFAT (kappa = 0.56), than between qPCR and RLB (kappa = 0.26) or the latter and IFAT (kappa = 0.15).ConclusionsThis is the first report of tick-borne haemoparasites in African buffalo from northern Botswana, where animals from the CNP showed higher levels of infection than those from OD. Considering the absence of fences separating wildlife and livestock in the CNP and the higher levels of some parasite species in buffalo from that area, surveillance of tick-borne diseases in livestock at the interface in the CNP should be prioritized.
Highlights
The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a host for many pathogens known to cause economically important diseases and is often considered an important reservoir for livestock diseases
reverse line blot (RLB) The RLB results (Table 1) indicated the presence of Theileria, Babesia, Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species, either as single or as mixed infections in the buffalo populations from two wildlife areas assessed in northern Botswana
In the Okavango Delta (OD), T. parva (69.6%) was most prevalent followed by A. marginale subsp. centrale (28.6%) and Theileria sp. (23.2%)
Summary
The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a host for many pathogens known to cause economically important diseases and is often considered an important reservoir for livestock diseases. Theileriosis, heartwater, babesiosis and anaplasmosis are considered the most important tick-borne diseases of livestock in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in extensive economic losses to livestock farmers in endemic areas. Theileriosis, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and heartwater are considered to be the most important tick-borne diseases (TBDs) of livestock in sub-Saharan Africa, resulting in extensive economic losses to farmers in endemic areas. T. parva causes Corridor Disease, which is still prevalent in South Africa in areas where buffalo and cattle share grazing grounds in the presence of its tick vectors. It is a controlled disease in South Africa because of a concern that ECF might recur [5,6]. T. parva distributions have been described in Mozambique [7], Zambia [8] and Zimbabwe [3], no information on the distribution of T. parva is available for many other southern African countries, including Botswana
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