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Persistent anthrax as a major driver of wildlife mortality in a tropical rainforest
Article de revue scientifique   Avec comité de lecture

Persistent anthrax as a major driver of wildlife mortality in a tropical rainforest

Constanze Hoffmann, Fee Zimmermann, Roman Biek, Hjalmar Kuehl, Kathrin Nowak, Roger Mundry, Anthony Agbor, Samuel Angedakin, Mimi Arandjelovic, Anja Blankenburg, …
Nature (London), Vol.548(7665), p.82-86
03/08/2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23309
PMID: 28770842

Résumé

Africa South of the Sahara Animal Diseases - microbiology Animal Diseases - mortality Animals Animals, Wild - microbiology Anthrax - microbiology Anthrax - mortality Anthrax - veterinary Bacillus anthracis - isolation & purification Bacillus anthracis - pathogenicity Diptera - microbiology Extinction, Biological Female Male Mammals - microbiology Pan troglodytes - microbiology Parks, Recreational Phylogeny Rainforest Tropical Climate
Anthrax is a globally important animal disease and zoonosis. Despite this, our current knowledge of anthrax ecology is largely limited to arid ecosystems, where outbreaks are most commonly reported. Here we show that the dynamics of an anthrax-causing agent, Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis, in a tropical rainforest have severe consequences for local wildlife communities. Using data and samples collected over three decades, we show that rainforest anthrax is a persistent and widespread cause of death for a broad range of mammalian hosts. We predict that this pathogen will accelerate the decline and possibly result in the extirpation of local chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) populations. We present the epidemiology of a cryptic pathogen and show that its presence has important implications for conservation.

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