引用

除了偷猎和栖息地丧失外，传染病也可能导致濒危野生物种的减少。象牙海岸的塔国家公园(TNP)就是这样的情况，由蜡样芽孢杆菌生物炭疽(Bcbva)引起的炭疽是生活在那里的黑猩猩死亡的主要原因。接种疫苗是降低感染炭疽热风险的一种选择。然而，在茂密的热带雨林中，野生黑猩猩独特的生活条件对系统接种疫苗构成了重大挑战。使用吹管接种疫苗对一些习惯了的黑猩猩对人类的中性行为产生了负面影响。因此，本研究的目的是评估通过食物诱饵接种是否是一种可能的非侵入性替代方法。首先，必须确定一种通过食物诱饵施用疫苗的适当方法，并且必须开发诊断性测定方法，以检测尿液中的炭疽特异性抗体，以便能够在计划的研究中采用基本非侵入性的方法。非侵入性试验进一步用于检查已经进行的吹管疫苗的成功，以及黑猩猩和白眉白猴的Bcbva血清流行率。利用炭疽疫苗接受者的人血清和尿液样本，开发了用于检测通过尿液排泄的炭疽特异性抗体的ELISA和Western Blot方案。在TNP的比较疫苗接种研究中，在一组习惯的白眉白白鸟中测试了两种不同剂量的Sterne 34F2活孢子疫苗。 In addition, mangabeys immunized by blowpipe and hand injection served as controls. After oral administration of the vaccine, no immune response was measurable and only two out of ten control animals had detectable antibodies after vaccination. When the vaccination campaign of 36 chimpanzees vaccinated by blowpipe was investigated, no reaction to the vaccine was observed. These observations question the use of Sterne 34F2 in chimpanzees and sooty mangabeys, not only for oral usage, but also fundamentally. Due to the lack of suitable alternative vaccines, there is currently no possibility of using vaccination to protect primates threatened by Bcbva. Another way to reduce the risk of infection is to identify and eliminate sources of infection. Further research is needed to understand the infection cycle and the involvement of possible vectors. One approach is the current investigation of potentially contaminated water and food sources, especially in the vicinity of deceased animals that have succumbed to anthrax. The observed Bcbva seroprevalence was low in chimpanzees and sooty mangabeys. Only one chimpanzee was positive for antibodies against the protective antigen, a protein of the anthrax toxin. All urine samples available for this animal, collected over a period of twelve years, were positive. This suggests long lasting antibody production after Bcbva infection. The extent to which possible repeated non-lethal contact with Bcbva or anthrax toxin components acted as boosters and had a positive effect on detectability could, however, not be determined from the available data. Together with the high Bcbva mortality in TNP, the low seroprevalence indicates that Bcbva infections are mostly lethal. This observation is consistent with earlier studies on the virulence of Bcbva.