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The sanitary control of threatened wild animals is of pivotal interest for their conservation. This task, however, is highly complex in wildlife/livestock systems. In this paper we report findings from a 2-year cross-sectional study of the epidemiology and attempted control of a Sarcoptes mite infestation in the threatened cheetah population in Masai Mara (Kenya), and discuss its interaction with sympatric wild (lion, wildebeest and Thomson's gazelle) and domestic (dog, cattle and sheep) animals. Sarcoptes scabiei was isolated from cheetahs, Thomson's gazelles, wildebeests, lions, cattle, goats and dogs; Psoroptes ovis, on the other hand, was only isolated from sheep. The prevalence study revealed 12·77% infection rates in cheetahs, 4·7% in dogs, 0·8% in Thomson's gazelles, 0·8% in sheep, 0·09% in cattle, and 0·09% in goats, while it opportunistically affected lions and wildebeest. Our study revealed that prevalence of Sarcoptes mite in cheetah population was not associated with the studied geographical blocks, animal sex or the presence of affected domestic animals. Cheetah infection with S. scabiei was associated with the climatic conditions (dry more than wet season) and the balancing between the total number of Thomson's gazelles and the prevalence of infected individuals. Apparently the high prevalence of mangy gazelles has a negative effect on cheetah; this negative effect was reduced when the number of healthy gazelles was increased. Treatment with injectable ivermectin of the clinically affected wild and domestic animals during the first year of this study was associated with much lower incidence of sarcoptic mange during the second year. © Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012.

Raccoons are an invasive species continuously spreading throughout Europe with Germany as the core area. Here, raccoons mostly live in rural regions, but some urban populations are already established (city of Kassel) or starting to build up (Berlin). The objective of this study was to investigate Sarcoptes infections in racoons in these two urban areas and try to identify the putative origin of the parasite. Parasite morphology, gross and histopathology examinations of diseased skin tissue were consistent with Sarcoptes scabiei infection. Moreover, using 9 microsatellite markers we genotyped individual mites from five raccoons and compared them with fox-, wild boar- and Northern chamois-derived Sarcoptes mites, originating from Italy and Switzerland. The raccoon-derived mites clustered together with the fox samples and were clearly differentiated from those of the wild boar and chamois suggesting a fox origin for the raccoon mange infection. These results are evidence of cross-transmission of S. scabiei among wild carnivores. Although our results cannot elucidate whether raccoons became infected by frequent interaction with endemically or epidemically infected foxes or if these cases were the result of occasional contacts among these animal species. Nevertheless, they show that pathogens can be shared among urban populations of native and invasive carnivores

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.

Background: Very few studies have ever focused on the elephants that are wounded or killed as local communities attempt to scare these animals away from their settlements and farms, or on the cases in which local people take revenge after elephants have killed or injured humans. On the other hand, local communities live in close proximity to elephants and hence can play a positive role in elephant conservation by informing the authorities of the presence of injured elephants. Methodology/Principal Findings: Between 2007 and 2011, 129 elephants were monitored in Masai Mara (Kenya), of which 54 had various types of active (intentionally caused) or passive (non-intentionally caused) injuries. Also studied were 75 random control samples of apparently unaffected animals. The observed active injuries were as expected biased by age, with adults suffering more harm; on the other hand, no such bias was observed in the case of passive injuries. Bias was also observed in elephant sex since more males than females were passively and actively injured. Cases of passive and active injuries in elephants were negatively related to the proximity to roads and farms; the distribution of injured elephants was not affected by the presence of either human settlements or water sources. Overall more elephants were actively injured during the dry season than the wet season as expected. Local communities play a positive role by informing KWS authorities of the presence of injured elephants and reported 43% of all cases of injured elephants. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the negative effect of local communities on elephants could be predicted by elephant proximity to farms and roads. In addition, local communities may be able to play a more positive role in elephant conservation given that they are key informants in the early detection of injured elephants.

Background: Pastoralists in low-income countries usually live in close proximity to their animals and thus represent an important repository of information about livestock disease. Since wild and domestic animals often mix freely whilst grazing, pastoralists are also able to observe first-hand the diseases that are present in wildlife and as such are key informants in disease outbreaks in sylvatic animals. We report here the findings of the first study of the knowledge and role of Masai pastoralists in mange in wildlife and livestock in Masai Mara, Kenya. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this paper we describe the knowledge of mange accrued by 56 Masai pastoralists in Kenya and how they respond to it in both wildlife and livestock. In total, 52 (93%) pastoralists had a clear idea of the clinical appearance of mange, 13 (23%) understood its aetiology and 37 (66%) knew that mites were the causal agent. Thirty-nine (69%) believed that mange cross-infection between domestic and wild animals occurs, while 48 (85%) had observed mange in domestic animals including sheep (77%), goats (57%), dogs (24%) and cattle (14%). The pastoralists had also observed wild animals infected with mange, above all lions (19%), gazelles (14%), cheetahs (12%) and wildebeests (2%). In 68% of cases Masai pastoralists treat mange infection or apply control measures, most commonly via the topical use of acaricides (29%) and/or the reporting of the outbreak to the veterinary authorities (21%). In the period 2007–2011, Kenya Wildlife Service received 24 warnings of 59 wild animals with mange-like lesions from the Masai Mara pastoralist community. The reported species were cheetah, lion, wild dog, Thomson’s gazelle and wildebeest. Conclusion: Masai pastoralists have good knowledge of mange epidemiology and treatment. Their observations and the treatments they apply are valuable in the control of this disease in both wild and domestic animals

The ubiquitous Sarcoptes mite is unexplainable emerging and re-emerging parasite, threat- ening biodiversity and human health. When a new outbreak occurs, it is not clear if it is a genuine emergence resulting from a new incidence or apparent emergence result- ing from increased detection. In this paper we report, for the first time to our knowledge, an outbreak of sarcoptic mange in giraffes in the wild. Three decaying carcasses and five free-ranging subadult reticulated giraffes were observed to have mange-like lesions in the drought-suffering Wajir Region in North Eastern Kenya, while apparently all sympatric wild and domestic animals were mange-free. Affected giraffes were captured and success- fully treated. The possible relations between this outbreak and annual seasons, animal age-classes and sex, and spatial distribution are discussed

Because size reduced, or bottlenecked, populations are more prone to adverse events, the detection of genetic bottleneck signatures in wildlife species is highly relevant for conservation. Here we applied 11 microsatellite markers to the endangered Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) using tissue and blood samples of animals from the Primorsky region of the Russian Far East. Excess heterozygosity and mode shift in allele frequencies tests were positive, while the M-ratio test was negative, indicating the like- lihood of a contemporary rather than a historical population bottleneck. The recent genetic population bottleneck could be attributed to the well-documented demographic collapse of the Siberian tiger pop- ulation in the 1940s, when population size hit bottom with 20–30 surviving animals. The mean effective population size Ne was 14 Siberian tigers (CI95 : 12–25 animals), and the effective population size/census size ratio (Ne /N ratio) was 0.028. This is the first molecular evidence of a recent Siberian tiger population bottleneck, which is of great interest for further conservation and management plans of the highly endan- gered largest felid species, while the worryingly low effective population size challenges the optimism for the recovery of the huge Siberian cat.

Liver flukes belonging to the genus Fasciola are among the causes of foodborne diseases of parasitic etiology. These parasites cause significant public health problems and substantial economic losses to the livestock industry. Therefore, it is important to definitively characterize the Fasciola species. Current phenotypic techniques fail to reflect the full extent of the diversity of Fasciola spp. In this respect, the use of molecular techniques to identify and differentiate Fasciola spp. offer considerable advantages. The advent of a variety of molecular genetic techniques also provides a powerful method to elucidate many aspects of Fasciola biology, epidemiology, and genetics. However, the discriminatory power of these molecular methods varies, as does the speed and ease of performance and cost. There is a need for the development of new methods to identify the mechanisms underpinning the origin and maintenance of genetic variation within and among Fasciola populations. The increasing application of the current and new methods will yield a much improved understanding of Fasciola epidemiology and evolution as well as more effective means of parasite control. Herein, we provide an overview of the molecular techniques that are being used for the genetic characterization, detection and genotyping of Fasciola spp.., This work was supported, in part, by the National S & T Major Program (Grant No. 2008ZX10004-011, 2009ZX10004-302, 2009ZX10004-201), the National Key Technology R & D Program (Grant No. 2008BAI56B03), the State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Yunnan Provincial Program for Introducing High-level Scientists (Grant No. 2009CI125) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (Grant No. IRT0723).

Noninvasive sampling is a potentially cost-effective and efficient means of monitoring wild animals that precludes the need for captures and avoids undue disturbance. Nevertheless, it is generally difficult to separate faeces deposited by Microtus cabrerae from that of other sympatric rodents of similar body size on the basis of just morphological features and content. Species identification methods in many noninvasive studies involve mtDNA analysis. Here we report the first use of species-specific primers targeting the SRY gene in a noninvasive molecular identification of Cabrera’s vole. This noninvasive molecular-based technique may thus provide us with a potential tool for further genetic and ecological study of this threatened species of Iberian vole.

The aim of the present study was to assess whether individual Sarcoptes mites collected from frozen skin ('postponed isolation' method) are suitable sources of PCR-quality genomic DNA, and to test the effectiveness of this method in comparison with the 'direct isolation' method, often used through force of habit. Hundreds of single Sarcoptes scabiei samples, resulting from direct (live) or postponed (post-frozen) isolation, were tested using a ∼450 bp product (ITS-2) and multi-locus 10x genotyping with microsatellite markers. No statistical difference in yield of soluble DNA was found between the two isolation methods. Nevertheless, 19% of the reactions were classified as failed preparations in the direct isolation method, whereas the rate of unsuccessful reactions was 34% in the postponed isolation method. Consequently, post-frozen isolation is suitable and recommendable for Sarcoptes mite gDNA preparation, particularly when performing a balancing act among safety, practicability and profitability. These results have implications for mite collection for DNA extraction, and hence the needed wider leap of Sarcoptes into the genetic era. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

The discipline of epidemiology is the study of the patterns, causes and effects of health and disease conditions in defined anima populations. It is the key to evidence-based medicine, which is one of the cornerstones of public health. One of the important facets of epidemiology is disease-navigating webs (disease-NW) through which zoonotic and multi-host parasites in general move from one host to another. Epidemiology in this context includes (i) classical epidemiological approaches based on the statistical analysis of disease prevalence and distribution and, more recently, (ii) genetic approaches with approximations of disease-agent population genetics. Both approaches, classical epidemiology and population genetics, are useful for studying disease-NW. However, both have strengths and weaknesses when applied separately, which, unfortunately, is too often current practice. In this paper, we use Sarcoptes scabiei mite epidemiology as a case study to show how important an integrated approach can be in understanding disease-NW and subsequent disease control., Project support was provided by Proyecto de Excelencia RNM 06400 (Junta de Andalucia, Spain) and Juan de la Cierva Grant (MinisterioInnovación y ciencia, Spain), the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (Grant No. 201303037), the PRIN 2010/2011 Grant (Ministero Università e Ricerca, Italy, Code D11J2000360001) and the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of Gansu Province (Grant No. 1210RJIA006).

Background Recently, there have been attempts to understand the molecular epidemiology of Sarcoptes scabiei, to evaluate the gene flow between isolates of S. scabiei from different hosts and geographic regions. However, to our knowledge, a molecular study has not been carried out to assess the molecular diversity and gene flow of Sarcoptes mite in a predator/prey ecosystem. Results Our study revealed an absence of gene flow between the two herbivore (Thomson's gazelle and wildebeest)- and between the two carnivore (lion and cheetah)-derived Sarcoptes populations from Masai Mara (Kenya), which is in discrepancy with the host-taxon law described for wild animals in Europe. Lion- and wildebeest-derived Sarcoptes mite populations were similar yet different from the Thomson's gazelle-derived Sarcoptes population. This could be attributed to Sarcoptes cross-infestation from wildebeest ("favourite prey") of the lion, but not from Thomson's gazelle. The cheetah-derived Sarcoptes population had different subpopulations: one is cheetah-private, one similar to the wildebeest- and lion-derived Sarcoptes populations, and another similar to the Thomson's gazelle-derived Sarcoptes mite population, where both wildebeest and Thomson's gazelle are "favourite preys" for the cheetah. Conclusions In a predator/prey ecosystem, like Masai Mara in Kenya, it seems that Sarcoptes infestation in wild animals is prey-to-predator-wise, depending on the predator's "favourite prey". More studies on the lion and cheetah diet and behaviour could be of great help to clarify the addressed hypotheses. This study could have further ramification in the epidemiological studies and the monitoring protocols of the neglected Sarcoptes mite in predator/prey ecosystems., We also acknowledge institutional support from the Unit of Information Resources for research at the "Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas" (CSIC) for the article-processing charges contribution.

Background Habitat and food supply loss and disruption, together with man’s pursuit of the animal’s unique horn pose significant threats to the charismatic rhinoceros. Filarial worms have been thought to cause cutaneous lesions in black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in Kenya and South Africa, but never in white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) in the wild, despite the fact that the two species live often in close proximity. Stephanofilaria dinniki has been implicated in the past as the causal agents for such lesions. Findings In this paper we report a putative filariosis outbreak in both black and white rhinos at Meru National Park in Kenya. Four black and five white rhinos were affected by various degrees of filarioid-like lesions, while apparently all sympatric wild and domestic animals were filarial worm-free. Affected rhinos were captured and successfully treated. Comparison between the epidemiological aspects of white and black rhinoceros filariosis, and the possible relations between this outbreak and annual seasons, the presence of oxpeckers and other host species are discussed. Conclusions Our study highlights (i) that filarial infection is not restricted to black rhinos, but it affects both rhinoceros species, and (ii) the importance of the earlier detection and immediate treatment (capture-treat and release) of filarioid infections, which is of pivotal interest for wildlife conservation, and especially the endangered and isolated white and black rhinoceros populations., We also acknowledge institutional support from the Unit of Information Resources for Research at the "Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas" (CSIC) for the article-processing charges contribution