Anaplasma infections

Sisson, Danielle, Beechler, Brianna, Jabbar, Abdul, Jolles, Anna & Hufschmid, Jasmin, 2023, Epidemiology of Anaplasma marginale and Anaplasma centrale infections in African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) from Kruger National Park, South Africa, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 21, pp. 47-54 : 50

3.2. Anaplasma infections peak in the dry season

Anaplasma marginale infections were more likely to occur in the dry season (p = <0.001) ( Table 2; Supplementary Table 3), and there was a non-significant trend towards higher A. centrale infection prevalence in the dry season ( Fig. 1 ). Infection intensity with A. centrale was greater during the dry season, (p = 0.013) but there was no statistically significant relationship between seasonality and A. marginale infection intensity ( Table 2; Fig. 2 ; Supplementary Table 4).

Figures

Fig. 1. The proportion of animals infected with Anaplasma spp. from a managed African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) herd from Kruger National Park, South Africa. a) The mean prevalence of animals with A. marginale single infection, A. centrale single infection, or co-infections with each other over four age groups: calves (0–1 years old), sub-adults (1–5.5 years old), adults (5.5–15 years) and geriatrics (15 years plus); b) the mean prevalence of new infections with A. marginale or A. centrale for each capture event over the two-and-a-half-year study period. Numbers at the top of figure represent sample size.

Fig. 2. Individual value plots showing the distribution of results for intensity of infection (log-transformed number of copies/reaction) with Anaplasma marginale (a) and Anaplasma centrale (b), using a real-time qPCR from a managed African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) herd from Kruger National Park, South Africa. Error bars represent one standard error, numbers at the top of figure represent sample size.