May

12

2008
 
 

Cheetah problem spotted



Scientists reach to the bottom of a mystery illness in captive animals

out for the count?A lethal disease is ripping through captive cheetah Acinonyx jubatus populations, hampering efforts to save the embattled felid from extinction. This week in PNAS, a research team led by Keiichi Higuchi at Shinshu University, Japan, claim that AA amyloidosis – a protein-folding disorder related to BSE (“mad cow” disease) – doesn’t arise quite as spontaneously as previously thought. Although animals that succumb are usually already suffering another affliction, the presence of amyloid proteins in the feces of infected animals provides a potential transmission route among individuals that are housed together. Even a giant kitty-litter tray won’t help, as the excreted infectious proteins can probably hang around in the soil too. Although the findings don’t definitively establish a link between sick cheetahs and their poop, they strongly suggest it’s a possibility to sniff out, so to speak. Source: Zhang B, Une Y, Fu X, Yan J, Ge F, Yao J, Sawashita J, Mori M, Tomozawa H, Kametani F& Higuchi K (2008) Fecal transmission of AA amyloidosis in the cheetah contributes to high incidence of disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0800367105

Image © Eric Gevaert

Filed Under Endangered species, Restoration, Monitoring, Tools and technology | 

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