Sero-Epidemiological Study of Selected Zoonotic and Abortifacient Pathogens in Cattle at a Wildlife-Livestock Interface in South Africa

A cross sectional sero-epidemiological study was conducted on cattle in a communal farming area adjacent to Kruger National Park at a wildlife-livestock interface in South Africa. A total of 184 cattle were screened for exposure to 5 abortifacient or zoonotic pathogens, namely Coxiella burnetii , Toxoplasma gondii , Chlamydophila abortus , Neospora caninum , and Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. In addition, the virus neutralization test was used to confirm the presence of antibodies to RVFV. The seroprevalence of C. burnetii , T. gondii , C. abortus , N. caninum , and RVFV antibodies was 38.0%, 32.6%, 20.7%, 1.6%, and 0.5%, respectively, and varied between locations ( p  < 0.001). Seroprevalence of C. burnetii and T. gondii was highly clustered by location (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.57), and that of C. abortus moderately so (ICC = 0.11). Seroprevalence was not associated with sex or age for any pathogen, except for C. abortus , for which seroprevalence was positively associated with age ( p  = 0.01). The predominant mixed infections were C. burnetii and T. gondii (15.2%) and C. burnetii , T. gondii , and C. abortus (13.0%). The serological detection of the five abortifacient pathogens in cattle indicates the potential for economic losses to livestock farmers, health impacts to domestic animals, transmission across the livestock-wildlife interface, and the risk of zoonotic transmission. This is the first documentation of T. gondii infection in cattle in South Africa, while exposure to C. burnetii , C. abortus , and N. caninum infections is being reported for the first time in cattle in a wildlife-livestock interface in the country.