Disease constraints for utilization of the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) on game ranches in Zambia.

Eco-tourism depending on wildlife is becoming increasingly profitable and landowners are beginning to favor game farming and ecotourism. In these areas, large-scale translocation of wildlife involves a diversity of species and large populations. The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is one of the major tourist attractions in Zambia. It accounts for 8.7% and 12.4% of the total animal species hunted in the Game Management Areas and the total hunting revenue earned in Zambia, respectively. It is ecologically an important animal species essential for the purpose of habitat control and facilitating the provision of suitable grazing pastures. However, the rearing of the African buffalo on game ranches has been hampered by its carrier state of the Southern Africa Terroritory (SAT) serotypes of foot and mouth disease virus (FMD). The African buffalo is also known to be a carrier of Theileria parva lawrencei, the causative agent of corridor disease (CD) that continues to have devastating effects on the livestock industry in Zambia. In addition, the importation of buffaloes from countries with populations endemic to bovine tuberculosis is highly restricted. Veterinary regulations in Zambia, strongly advocate against the translocation of buffaloes from protected areas to private ranches for disease control purposes thereby mounting a considerable constraint on the economic and ecological viability of the industry. It is hoped that this review will motivate the relevant government authorities in exploiting ways in which this animal species play a central role in eco-tourism.

Intranasal administration of a synthetic peptide vaccine encapsulated in liposome together with an anti-CD40 antibody induces protective immunity against influenza A virus in mice.

Mucosal immunity is critical for protection from viral infections. We attempted to activate mucosal cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) specific for influenza A virus nucleoprotein (NP) which play an important role in protective immunity. It has been shown that dendritic cells (DCs) activated by signaling via CD40-CD40 ligand (CD40L) interaction are required for the differentiation of naive CD8(+) T cells into antigen-specific CTLs in a non-mucosal environment. We herein inoculated mice intranasally with an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody (anti-CD40 mAb) and NP366-374 peptide, corresponding to a CTL epitope on NP, encapsulated in liposome (liposomal NP366-374) to induce protective CTL responses against influenza A virus. Intranasal but not subcutaneous immunization with liposomal NP366-374 effectively induced mucosal immunity to reduce virus replication in the lung, suggesting that anti-CD40 mAb also functioned as a mucosal adjuvant. Interestingly, neither MHC class I- nor class II-deficient mice immunized intranasally with these materials were resistant to the infection. Since anti-CD40 mAb was considered to help replace CD4(+) T cells, another help of CD4(+) T cells are presumably required for the induction of CTL activity in the lung. This approach may prove promising for developing vaccines to induce mucosal CTL responses, and seems to highlight differences between mucosal and non-mucosal immunity.