IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library
   

 

View printer friendly
Maas, M.; Keet, D.F.; Rutten, V.P.M.G.; Heesterbeek, J.A.P.; Nielen, M.
Assessing the impact of feline immunodeficiency virus and bovine tuberculosis co-infection in African lions
2012  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. (279): 4206-4214

Bovine tuberculosis (BTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis, is a disease that was introduced relatively recently into the Kruger National Park (KNP) lion population. Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIVple) is thought to have been endemic in lions for a much longer time. In humans, co-infection between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus increases disease burden. If BTB were to reach high levels of prevalence in lions, and if similar worsening effects would exist between FIVple and BTB as for their human equivalents, this could pose a lion conservation problem. We collected data on lions in KNP from 1993 to 2008 for spatio temporal analysis of both FIVple and BTB, and to assess whether a similar relationship between the two diseases exists in lions. We found that BTB prevalence in the south was higher than in the north (72 versus 19%over the total study period) and increased over time in the northern part of the KNP (0-41%). No significant spatio-temporal differences were seen for FIVple in the study period, in agreement with the presumed endemic state of the infection. Both infections affected haematology and blood chemistry values, FIVple in a more pronounced way than BTB. The effect of co-infection on these values, however, was always less than additive. Though a large proportion (31%) of the lions was co-infected with FIVple and M. bovis, there was no evidence for a synergistic relation as in their human counterparts. Whether this results from different immunopathogeneses remains to be determined.

PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here

 

(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union)