Buffalo, Bush Meat, and the Zoonotic Threat of Brucellosis in Botswana

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of global importance infecting humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Little is known about the epidemiology and persistence of brucellosis in wildlife in Southern Africa, particularly in Botswana.Archived wildlife samples from Botswana (1995-2000) were screened with the Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and fluorescence polarization assay (FPA) and included the African buffalo (247), bushbuck (1), eland (5), elephant (25), gemsbok (1), giraffe (9), hartebeest (12), impala (171), kudu (27), red lechwe (10), reedbuck (1), rhino (2), springbok (5), steenbok (2), warthog (24), waterbuck (1), wildebeest (33), honey badger (1), lion (43), and zebra (21). Human case data were extracted from government annual health reports (1974-2006).Only buffalo (6%, 95% CI 3.04%-8.96%) and giraffe (11%, 95% CI 0-38.43%) were confirmed seropositive on both tests. Seropositive buffalo were widely distributed across the buffalo range where cattle density was low. Human infections were reported in low numbers with most infections (46%) occurring in children (<14 years old) and no cases were reported among people working in the agricultural sector.Low seroprevalence of brucellosis in Botswana buffalo in a previous study in 1974 and again in this survey suggests an endemic status of the disease in this species. Buffalo, a preferred source of bush meat, is utilized both legally and illegally in Botswana. Household meat processing practices can provide widespread pathogen exposure risk to family members and the community, identifying an important source of zoonotic pathogen transmission potential. Although brucellosis may be controlled in livestock populations, public health officials need to be alert to the possibility of human infections arising from the use of bush meat. This study illustrates the need for a unified approach in infectious disease research that includes consideration of both domestic and wildlife sources of infection in determining public health risks from zoonotic disease invasions

Economic development and road traffic fatalities in two neighbouring African nations

IntroductionThe rapid growth of Botswana’s economy since independence in 1966 has brought more tarred roads and vehicles, accompanied by an escalating road crash fatality rate. We tested the hypothesis that motor vehicle crash fatality increases resulted from, rather than just corresponded with, annual gross domestic product (GDP) increases. Data from Zambia, adjacent to Botswana, were used for comparison.MethodsAnnual social and economic indicators and motor vehicle crash fatality rates in Botswana and Zambia were accessed from 1960 to 2012 and analysed using vector autoregressive analysis and Granger causality tests.ResultsIn Botswana, annual changes in per capita GDP predicted annual changes in motor vehicle crash fatality rates (p=0.042). The opposite was not observed; annual changes in motor vehicle crash fatality rates did not predict annual GDP changes. These findings suggest that GDP growth in a given year caused additional road traffic fatalities in Botswana and that, on average, every billion dollar increase in GDP produced an increase in the rate of road traffic fatalities. In Zambia, annual GDP changes predicted annual fatality rate changes three years later (p=0.029), but annual changes in road crash fatality rates also predicted annual increases in per capita GDP (p=0.026) three years later, suggesting a correlation between trends, but not a causal effect of GDP.ConclusionRoad crash fatalities increased in recent decades in both Zambia and Botswana. But the rapid economic development in Botswana over this time period appears to have driven proportionate road traffic fatality increases. There are opportunities for newly emerging economies such as Zambia, Angola, and others to learn from the Botswana experience. Evidence-based investments in road safety interventions should be concomitant with economic development