No abstract

Canine rabies is enzootic throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, including the Republic of South Africa. Historically, in South Africa the coastal provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape were most affected. Alarmingly, outbreaks of canine rabies have been increasingly reported in the past decade from sites where it has previously been under control. From January 2010 to December 2011, 53 animal rabies cases were confirmed; these were mostly in domestic dogs from southern Johannesburg, which was previously considered to be rabies free. In addition, one case was confirmed in a 26-month old girl who had been scratched by a pet puppy during this period. The introduction of rabies into Gauteng Province was investigated through genetic analysis of rabies positive samples confirmed during the outbreak period. In addition, the nucleotide sequences of incidental cases reported in the province for the past ten years were also included in the analysis. It was found that the recent canine rabies outbreak in the Gauteng Province came from the introduction of the rabies virus from KwaZulu-Natal, with subsequent local spread in the susceptible domestic dog population of southern Johannesburg. The vulnerability of the province was also highlighted through multiple, dead-end introductions in the past ten years. This is the first report of a rabies outbreak in the greater Johannesburg area with evidence of local transmission in the domestic dog population.

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Bovine brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of global public health and economic importance. South Africa has had a national bovine brucellosis eradication scheme since 1979; however, no published report on elimination progress from any province exists. We analysed laboratory test results of all cattle herds participating in the Gauteng Provincial Veterinary Services’ eradication scheme between 2013 and 2018. Herd reactor status and within-herd seroprevalence, modelled using mixed-effects logistic and negative binomial regression models, respectively, showed no significant change over the period. However, provincial State Vet Areas, Randfontein (OR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.2–2.1; p < 0.001) and Germiston (OR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.5–2.5, p = 0.008) had higher odds of reactor herds than the Pretoria Area and within-herd prevalence count ratios for these areas were 1.5-fold greater than the Pretoria State Vet Area (p < 0.001). Reactor herds were associated with increased herd size (p < 0.001) and larger herd sizes were associated with lower within-herd prevalence (p < 0.001). Despite no evidence of significant progress toward bovine brucellosis elimination in Gauteng province, variability in bovine brucellosis prevalence between State Vet Areas exists. A public health and farmer-supported strategy of ongoing district-based surveillance and cattle vaccination targeting small- to medium-sized herds combined with compulsory test and slaughter of reactors in larger herds is recommended for the province.