Journal article
Molecular characterisation of Anaplasma species from African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in Kruger National Park, South Africa
D Sisson, J Hufschmid, A Jolles, B Beechler, A Jabbar
Ticks and Tick Borne Diseases | ELSEVIER GMBH | Published : 2017
Abstract
Bovine anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease, mainly caused by Anaplasma marginale and A. centrale and is distributed in tropical and sub-tropical areas. This study aimed to characterise A. marginale and A. centrale from African buffaloes in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, using the DNA sequences of the genes coding for major surface protein (msp1β) and heat shock protein (groEL), respectively. A total of 747 blood samples were collected from February 2014 to August 2016 from African buffaloes kept in KNP, and DNAs were tested using a molecular-phylogenetic approach. Out of 747 samples tested, 129 (17.3%) and 98 (13.1%) were positive for single infection with A. marginale and A. cen..
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Awarded by UK Research and Innovation
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank South African National Parks (SANParks) for permission to conduct this study in Kruger National Park and M. Hofmeyr, P. Buss and the entire SANParks Veterinary Wildlife Services Department for invaluable assistance with animal captures and project logistics, as well as Kruger National Park DAFF veterinarians, especially Lin Mari De-Klerk Lorist and Louis van Schalkwyk. Thank you also to our collaborators from the Pirbright Institute, including E. Perez, B. Charleston and F. Zhang. We thank C. Glidden, K. Potgieter-Forssman, H. Combrink, H. Tavalire, C. Couch, B. Dugovich, J. Rushmore, C. Coon, E. Gorsich, M. Movius, B. Sullivan, E. Devereux, G. Meleleu, A. Sage, D. Trovillion and J. Masseleux for work on animal captures and sample processing. We also thank Hagos Gebrekidan for his help in laboratory techniques. This work was funded by USDA-NIFA AFRI grant # 2013-67015-21291 and by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant # BB/L011085/1 as part of the joint USDA-NSF-BBSRC Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program. The first author was also supported through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. The authors reported no conflicts of interest related to this research