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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.

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.