TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION OF AFRICAN HORSE SICKNESS VIRUS SEROTYPES IN SOUTH-AFRICAN ZEBRA

The prevalences of African horse sickness (AHS) virus serotypes in zeb ra foals from the Kruger National Park, South Africa were examined for possible associations between serotypes. Serotypes known to cross-rea ct were combined for analysis. The distributions of serotypes between zebra were not always independent; in 7-8 month old zebra positive pai rwise associations were observed between 3 serotypes. This could be ge nerated by biological interactions between serotypes or heterogeneity in host-vector transmission. The data were also used to estimate the b asic reproduction number, Ro. For AHS virus overall, estimates of R-0 ranged from 31-68. This underlines the need for a better understanding of serotype transmission and interactions in AHS.