GIARDIA IN MOUNTAIN GORILLAS (GORILLA BERINGEI BERINGEI), FOREST BUFFALO (SYNCERUS CAFFER), AND DOMESTIC CATTLE IN VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, RWANDA Jennifer N. Hogan, 1 Woutrina A. Miller, 1 Michael R. Cranfield, 2,5 Jan Ramer, 3,5 James Hassell, 4 Jean Bosco Noheri, 5 Patricia A. Conrad, 1 and Kirsten V. K. Gilardi 2,6 1 Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA 2 Gorilla Doctors, Wildlife Health Center, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA 3 Indianapolis Zoo, 1200 W. Washington Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46222, USA 4 Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Royal College Street, London NW1 0 TU, UK 5 Current address: Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, 1876 Mansion House Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21217, USA 6 Corresponding author (email: kvgilardi@ucdavis.edu) ABSTRACT: Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) are critically endangered primates surviving in two isolated populations in protected areas within the Virunga Massif of Rwanda, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. Mountain gorillas face intense ecologic pressures due to their proximity to humans. Human communities outside the national parks, and numerous human activities within the national parks (including research, tourism, illegal hunting, and anti-poaching patrols), lead to a high degree of contact between mountain gorillas and wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. To assess the pathogen transmission potential between wildlife and livestock, feces of mountain gorillas, forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus), and domestic cattle (Bos taurus) in Rwanda were examined for the parasites Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Giardia was found in 9% of mountain gorillas, 6% of cattle, and 2% of forest buffalo. Our study represents the first report of Giardia prevalence in forest buffalo. Cryptosporidium-like particles were also observed in all three species. Molecular characterization of Giardia isolates identified zoonotic genotype assemblage B in the gorilla samples and assemblage E in the cattle samples. Significant spatial clustering of Giardia- positive samples was observed in one sector of the park. Although we did not find evidence for transmission of protozoa from forest buffalo to mountain gorillas, the genotypes of Giardia samples isolated from gorillas have been reported in humans, suggesting that the importance of humans in this ecosystem should be more closely evaluated. Key words: Cryptosporidium, disease transmission, ecosystem health, Giardia, mountain gorilla, One Health, Rwanda. INTRODUCTION Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei ber- ingei) are a critically endangered, charis- matic species living in a restricted range in Africa in proximity to humans. Of the world’s remaining 880 mountain gorillas, approximately 480 live in the Virunga Massif (Gray et al. 2013), which spans the borders of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo and includes Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. The park is bordered by dense human communities, which average 300 people/km 2 (Gray and Kalpers 2005) and practice subsistence crop and animal agriculture. Additionally, there is consid- erable human activity inside the park for tourism, research, illegal hunting and harvest, and anti-poaching patrols. Live- stock are grazed on lands abutting the park boundary while wildlife, including forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus), which live inside the park and share habitat with gorillas, routinely enter and exit the park. The buffalo use domestic livestock habitat for crop-raiding and come into direct contact with cattle (Bos taurus) and mountain gorillas, as has been documented over the past 20 yr (Plumptre and Harris 1995; Plumptre et al. 1997). This overlap in habitat usage by large herbivores may allow for parasite trans- mission across host groups over time. DOI: 10.7589/2012-09-229 Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 50(1), 2014, pp. 21–30 # Wildlife Diseases Association 2014 21 Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/doi/pdf/10.7589/2012-09-229 by guest on 19 November 2021