Nature 379, 441 - 445 (01 February 1996); doi:10.1038/379441a0

A canine distemper virus epidemic in Serengeti lions (Panthera leo)

Melody E. Roelke-Parker^*†, Linda Munson^‡££, Craig Packer^*§, Richard Kock, Sarah Cleaveland^*£, Margaret Carpenter, Stephen J. O'Brien, Andreas Pospischil^**, Regina Hofmann-Lehmann^††, Hans Lutz^††, George L. M. Mwamengele^‡‡, M. N. Mgasa^‡‡, G. A. Machange^§§, Brian A. Summers & Max J. G. Appel^¶¶

^* Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute, Tanzania National Parks, Arusha, Tanzania
^† Messerli Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland
^‡ Department of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901, USA
^§Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA
Kenya Wildlife Service, Nairobi, Kenya
^¶ Institute of Zoology, London NW14RY, UK
^£ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Laboratory of Viral Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA
^** Institute of Veterinary Pathology, and ^†† Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
^‡‡ Department of Veterinary Pathology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
^§§ Veterinary Investigation Center, Arusha, Tanzania
Department of Pathology, and ^¶¶ James Baker Institute of Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
^££ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

CANINE distemper virus (CDV) is thought to have caused several fatal epidemics in canids within the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem of East Africa, affecting silver-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas) and bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis) in 1978 (ref. 1), and African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in 1991 (refs 2, 3). The large, closely monitored Serengeti lion population^4,5 was not affected in these epidemics. However, an epidemic caused by a morbillivirus closely related to CDV emerged abruptly in the lion population of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, in early 1994, resulting in fatal neurological disease characterized by grand mal seizures and myoclonus; the lions that died had encephalitis and pneumonia. Here we report the identification of CDV from these lions, and the close phylogenetic relationship between CDV isolates from lions and domestic dogs. By August 1994, 85% of the Serengeti lion population had anti-CDV antibodies, and the epidemic spread north to lions in the Maasai Mara National reserve, Kenya, and uncounted hyaenas, bat-eared foxes, and leopards were also affected.

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