Journal of Veterinary Medical Science
Online ISSN : 1347-7439
Print ISSN : 0916-7250
ISSN-L : 0916-7250
Wildlife Science
Tuberculosis seroprevalence and comparison of hematology and biochemistry parameters between seropositive and seronegative captive Asian elephants of Nepal
Jeewan THAPASusan K. MIKOTAKamal Prasad GAIRHESarad PAUDELDinesh Kumar SINGHIshwari Prasad DHAKALChie NAKAJIMAYasuhiko SUZUKI
Author information
JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2021 Volume 83 Issue 8 Pages 1278-1283

Details
Abstract

We conducted a tuberculosis (TB) serosurveillance program of captive elephants in Nepal and compared hematology and biochemistry parameters between seropositive and seronegative elephants. A total of 153 elephants (male=20, female=133) from four national parks were tested for TB using the ElephantTB STAT-PAK® Assay (ChemBio Diagnostic Systems, Inc., Medford, NY, USA). The mean reported age for 138 elephants was 38.5 years (range 2–71 years). Seroprevalence for TB was 21.56% (33/153). The majority of seropositive elephants were female (n=30) and from Chitwan National Park (n=29). The occurrence of TB seropositive cases in other more remote national parks suggests TB may be widespread among the captive elephant population of Nepal. Hematology and biochemistry analyses were performed on 13 and 22 seropositive elephants, respectively and, nine elephants from a seronegative TB herd for comparison. Hematology parameters (hemoglobin, packed cell volume, platelet, white blood cells, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate) were comparable between the two groups. Total protein, globulin, and lactate dehydrogenase were significantly higher in seronegative elephants, and bilirubin was significantly higher in seropositive elephants whereas blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase/aspartate aminotransferase (GOT/AST), glutamic pyruvic transaminase/alanine aminotransferase (GPT/ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GT), and albumin were not significantly different. The range of biochemical parameters that were significantly different between seropositive and seronegative elephants had narrow ranges. Thus, the potential of these parameters as a direct biomarker for TB diagnosis is limited based on the findings in this study. We recommend including blood parameters in future TB surveillance studies.

Content from these authors
© 2021 by the Japanese Society of Veterinary Science

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International] license.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Previous article Next article
feedback
Top