Rinderpest seroprevalence in wildlife in Kenya and Tanzania, 1982-1993

Eight hundred and thirty five serum samples collected from eight wild artiodactyl species in Kenya and Tanzania between 1982 and 1993 were tested for virus-neutralising (VN) antibodies to rinderpest (RP) virus. Antibodies were found in 116 of 344 buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) but not in the other species including 349 wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus). Most of the antibody positive buffaloes were from the Maasai Mara-Serengeti ecosystem (MM-SE) and would have had opportunity for exposure to the virus during the epidemic of rinderpest in buffalo confirmed there in 1982. Buffalo born after 1985 did not have antibody indicating that virus stopped circulating in this population at or around that time. This second demonstration that RP virus disappears from the MM-SE is further evidence that these species are not permanent reservoirs of this virus. Re-infection of wildlife is transient and they remain valuable sentinels for infection in nearby domestic livestock.