Detection of Cowdria ruminantium in blood and bone marrow samples from clinically normal, free-ranging Zimbabwean wild ungulates.
Cowdria ruminantium causes severe, often fatal disease in domestic ruminants, whereas wildlife species usually are not affected. Blood and bone marrow samples from healthy, free-ranging Zimbabwean ungulates were taken during translocation from areas harboring Amblyomma ticks and tested for the presence of C. ruminantium, using a PCR assay based on the C. ruminantium map1 gene. Positive reactions were obtained in tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), and impala (Aepyceros melampus). Wildlife species may therefore be a reservoir for C. ruminantium thus contributing to the spread of cowdriosis.
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D001483:Base Sequence; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000382:microbiology; D016995:Ehrlichia ruminantium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012288:Rickettsiaceae Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012418:Ruminants / Q000382:microbiology*; D015030:Zimbabwe