Authors
Tiziana Lembo, Katie Hampson, Harriet Auty, Cari A Beesley, Paul Bessell, Craig Packer, Jo Halliday, Robert Fyumagwa, Richard Hoare, Eblate Ernest, Christine Mentzel, Titus Mlengeya, Karen Stamey, Patricia P Wilkins, Sarah Cleaveland
Publication date
2011/3
Journal
Emerging infectious diseases
Volume
17
Issue
3
Pages
387
Publisher
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Description
Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, is responsible for varying death rates among animal species. Difficulties in case detection, hazardous or inaccessible carcasses, and misdiagnosis hinder surveillance. Using case reports and a new serologic assay that enables multispecies comparisons, we examined exposure to and illness caused by B. anthracis in different species in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania during 1996–2009 and the utility of serosurveillance. High seroprevalence among carnivores suggested regular nonfatal exposure. Seropositive wildebeest and buffalo showed that infection was not invariably fatal among herbivores, whereas absence of seropositivity in zebras and frequent detection of fatal cases indicated high susceptibility. Exposure patterns in dogs reflected known patterns of endemicity and provided new information about anthrax in the ecosystem, which indicated the …
Total citations
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Scholar articles
T Lembo, K Hampson, H Auty, CA Beesley, P Bessell… - Emerging infectious diseases, 2011