Three Novel Haplotypes of Theileria bicornis in Black and White Rhinoceros in Kenya.

Piroplasms, especially those in the genera Babesia and Theileria, have been found to naturally infect rhinoceros. Due to natural or human-induced stress factors such as capture and translocations, animals often develop fatal clinical piroplasmosis, which causes death if not treated. This study examines the genetic diversity and occurrence of novel Theileria species infecting both black and white rhinoceros in Kenya. Samples collected opportunistically during routine translocations and clinical interventions from 15 rhinoceros were analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a nested amplification of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) gene fragments of Babesia and Theileria. Our study revealed for the first time in Kenya the presence of Theileria bicornis in white (Ceratotherium simum simum) and black (Diceros bicornis michaeli) rhinoceros and the existence of three new haplotypes: haplotypes H1 and H3 were present in white rhinoceros, while H2 was present in black rhinoceros. No specific haplotype was correlated to any specific geographical location. The Bayesian inference 50% consensus phylogram recovered the three haplotypes monophyleticly, and Theileria bicornis had very high support (BPP: 0.98). Furthermore, the genetic p-uncorrected distances and substitutions between T. bicornis and the three haplotypes were the same in all three haplotypes, indicating a very close genetic affinity. This is the first report of the occurrence of Theileria species in white and black rhinoceros from Kenya. The three new haplotypes reported here for the first time have important ecological and conservational implications, especially for population management and translocation programs and as a means of avoiding the transport of infected animals into non-affected areas.

First reported case of fatal tuberculosis in a wild African elephant with past human-wildlife contact.

Tuberculosis is emerging/re-emerging in captive elephant populations, where it causes morbidity and deaths, although no case of TB in wild African elephants has been reported. In this paper we report the first case of fatal TB in an African elephant in the wild. The infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis was confirmed by post-mortem and histological examinations of a female sub-adult elephant aged >12 years that died in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya, while under treatment. This case is unique in that during its lifetime the elephant had contact with both humans and wild elephants. The source of the infection was unclear because the elephant could have acquired the infection in the orphanage or in the wild. However, our results show that wild elephants can maintain human TB in the wild and that the infection can be fatal.

Genetic identification of five strongyle nematode parasites in wild african elephants (Loxodonta africana).

African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) are an ecologically and economically important species in many African habitats. However, despite the importance of elephants, research on their parasites is limited, especially in wild populations. Currently, we lack genetic tools to identify elephant parasites. We present genetic markers from ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to identify five elephant-specific nematode parasites in the family Strongylidae: Murshidia linstowi, Murshidia longicaudata, Murshidia africana, Quilonia africana, and Khalilia sameera. We collected adult nematodes from feces deposited by wild elephants living in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Using both morphologic and genetic techniques, we found that the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region in rDNA provides a reliable marker to distinguish these species of strongyles. We found no evidence for cryptic genetic species within these morphologic species according to the cox-1 region of mtDNA. Levels of genetic diversity in strongyles from elephants were consistent with the genetic diversity seen within other strongyle species. We anticipate that these results will be a useful tool for identifying gastrointestinal nematode parasites in elephants.