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Ehrlichia spp. close to Ehrlichia ruminantium, Ehrlichia canis, and “Candidatus Ehrlichia regneryi” linked to heartwater-like disease in Kenyan camels (Camelus dromedarius)

Tropical Animal Health and Production volume 53, Article number: 147 (2021) Cite this article

Abstract

We present findings from an outbreak of a heartwater-like disease in camels that killed at least 2000 adult animals in Kenya in 2016. Clinical signs included excitability, head pressing, aimless wandering, recumbency, and fast breathing followed by death after about 4 days. The observed morbidity in one herd was 40% with an average mortality of 7.5% in animals that received early antibiotic treatments. In untreated adults, the case fatality rate reached 100%. Gross pathology showed pulmonary edema, pleural exudate, hydrothorax, hydropericardium, ascites, enlarged “cooked” liver, nephrosis, and blood in the abomasum and intestine. Using established PCR-based protocols for tick-borne pathogens, a sequence close to Ehrlichia regneryi and Ehrlichia canis amplified in blood from two sick camels. We also amplified an Ehrlichia sp. sequence close to Ehrlichia ruminantium Welgevonden from a pool of Amblyomma spp. ticks collected from a sick camel and in a pool of Rhipicephalus spp. ticks from healthy camels.

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Fig. 1

Data availability

Study sequences have been deposited into GenBank: accessions MH936008, MH936009, and MH938655.

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Funding

The authors are grateful to FAO for funding the investigation as well as icipe institutional funding from the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the Kenyan Government. The funders had no role in design, data collection, interpretation, or decision to submit this publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Programme & Operational Support to Syria Crisis, UN cross-border hub, Sahinbey, Gaziantep, Turkey

    Mario Younan

  2. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Daniel O. Ouso, Tobias Landmann & Jandouwe Villinger

  3. Directorate of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries & Irrigation, National Veterinary Services (NVS), P.O. Box 58187, Nairobi, 00200, Kenya

    Boku Bodha, Edward K. Keitany, Rinah Sitawa & Wilson Kuria

  4. Veterinary Research Institute, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), P.O. Box 362, Kikuyu, 00902, Kenya

    Hezron O. Wesonga

  5. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), Eastern Africa, P.O. Box 30470, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Joshua Kimutai

  6. County Government of Marsabit, P.O. Box 384, Marsabit, 60500, Kenya

    Wario Sori Sake

  7. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Animal and Human Health Program, P.O. 26 Box 30709, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Nicholas Svitek

  8. Remote Sensing Solutions GmbH, 81673, Munich, Germany

    Tobias Landmann

  9. Sidai Africa Ltd., P.O Box 27256, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Diba Dida Wako

Authors
  1. Mario Younan
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  2. Daniel O. Ouso
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  3. Boku Bodha
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  4. Edward K. Keitany
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  5. Hezron O. Wesonga
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  6. Rinah Sitawa
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  7. Joshua Kimutai
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  8. Wilson Kuria
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  9. Wario Sori Sake
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  10. Nicholas Svitek
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  11. Tobias Landmann
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  12. Diba Dida Wako
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  13. Jandouwe Villinger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jandouwe Villinger.

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Younan, M., Ouso, D.O., Bodha, B. et al. Ehrlichia spp. close to Ehrlichia ruminantium, Ehrlichia canis, and “Candidatus Ehrlichia regneryi” linked to heartwater-like disease in Kenyan camels (Camelus dromedarius). Trop Anim Health Prod 53, 147 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-020-02524-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-020-02524-y

Keywords

  • Heartwater
  • Camelids
  • Tick-borne disease
  • Acute camel death syndrome
  • Ehrlichiosis
  • East Africa

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