Babesia bicornis, Theileria bicornis and Theileria equi in metapopulations of two black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) subspecies in South Africa and their potential impact on conservation

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dc.contributor.author Zimmermann, David E.
dc.contributor.author Penzhorn, Barend Louis
dc.contributor.author Vorster, Ilse
dc.contributor.author Troskie, Milana
dc.contributor.author Oosthuizen, Marinda C.
dc.date.accessioned 2022-10-10T09:00:17Z
dc.date.available 2022-10-10T09:00:17Z
dc.date.issued 2021-03
dc.description.abstract The two black rhinoceros subspecies (Diceros bicornis bicornis and D. b. minor) in South African conservation areas are managed as separate metapopulations. Since infection with Babesia bicornis can be fatal in black rhinoceroses, occurrence of this and other piroplasms in the two metapopulations was determined to assess possible risk. Blood specimens were collected from 156 black rhinoceroses: 80 from D. b. bicornis and 76 from D. b. minor. DNA was extracted; the V4 hypervariable region of the parasite 18S rRNA gene was amplified and subjected to the Reverse Line Blot (RLB) hybridization assay. There was a significant difference in occurrence of piroplasms: 18/80 (23%) in D. b. bicornis and 39/76 (51%) in D. b. minor. Theileria bicornis occurred in significantly more of the D. b. minor population (36/76; 47%) than the D. b. bicornis population (1/80; 1%); with B. bicornis the difference was not significant: D. b. bicornis 5/80 (6%) and D. b. minor 9/76 (11%). Three individuals were infected with Theileria equi. Results were confirmed using molecular characterization of the near full-length parasite 18S rRNA gene of 13 selected specimens. We identified four (Tb1, Tb2, Tb3 and Tb4) 18S rDNA sequence types for T. bicornis, two for B. bicornis (Bb1 and Bb2) and one for T. equi (Teq1). We furthermore identified T. bicornis haplotypes H1, H3 and H4 in 10 rhinoceroses; H3 was the most common haplotype identified. Rhinoceroses inhabiting more arid areas are apparently free of T. bicornis and B. bicornis, probably due to the absence or scarcity of vectors. When individuals are relocated for metapopulation management purposes, appropriate prophylactic action should be taken to minimise the risk of babesiosis, which could be fatal. en_US
dc.description.department Centre for Veterinary Wildlife Studies en_US
dc.description.department Veterinary Tropical Diseases en_US
dc.description.librarian hj2022 en_US
dc.description.sponsorship South African National Research Foundation grant and a SANBI Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme grant. en_US
dc.description.uri https://www.elsevier.com/locate/ttbdis en_US
dc.identifier.citation Zimmermann, D.E., Penzhorn, B.L., Vorster, I. et al. 2021, 'Babesia bicornis, Theileria bicornis and Theileria equi in metapopulations of two black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) subspecies in South Africa and their potential impact on conservation', Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, vol. 12, no. 2, art. 101635, pp. 1-10, doi : 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101635. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 1877-959X (print)
dc.identifier.issn 1877-9603 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101635
dc.identifier.uri https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/87602
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Elsevier en_US
dc.rights © 2020 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. A definitive version was subsequently published in Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases,vol. 12, no. 2, art. 101635, pp. 1-10, 2021. doi : 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101635. en_US
dc.subject Black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) en_US
dc.subject Babesia bicornis en_US
dc.subject Theileria bicornis en_US
dc.subject Theileria equi en_US
dc.subject Metapopulation management en_US
dc.subject Reintroduction en_US
dc.subject Conservation en_US
dc.subject South Africa (SA) en_US
dc.title Babesia bicornis, Theileria bicornis and Theileria equi in metapopulations of two black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) subspecies in South Africa and their potential impact on conservation en_US
dc.type Postprint Article en_US


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