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. 1996;379(6564):441–445. doi: 10.1038/379441a0

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

Melody E Roelke-Parker 1,2, Linda Munson 3, Craig Packer 1,4, Richard Kock 5, Sarah Cleaveland 1,6,7, Margaret Carpenter 8, Stephen J O'Brien 8, Andreas Pospischil 9, Regina Hofmann-Lehmann 10, Hans Lutz 10, George L M Mwamengele 11, M N Mgasa 11, G A Machange 12, Brian A Summers 13, Max J G Appel 14
PMCID: PMC7095363  PMID: 8559247

Abstract

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 population4,5 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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