DISEASE SURVEILLANCE IN MIXED LIVESTOCK AND GAME AREAS AROUND LAKE-MBURO-NATIONAL-PARK IN UGANDA

Lake Mburo National Park is surrounded by cattle ranches. Wild animals are common within the ranches with impala Aepyceros melampus and zebr a Equus burchelli being the most numerous. The population sizes of imp ala (t = 0.4584) and zebra (t = 0.714) at the study sites on the ranch es and inside the national park were not significantly different (p > 0.05). The predominant cattle breed is the Ankole Sanga breed. The att itude of the ranchers towards mixed game and livestock ranching was fa vourable provided transmission of diseases from wild animals to their livestock was controlled and the ban on consumptive utilisation of wil dlife be lifted. Tickborne diseases and brucellosis were identified as the major diseases requiring immediate attention in the area. Theiler iosis, especially East Coast Fever (ECF) is a predominant tick-borne d isease in the area. Ankole cattle were shown to have evolved endemic s tability to tick-borne diseases. Livestock pose a risk of transmitting brucellosis to wild animals with a prevalence of 30.8% in cattle and an even higher rate in goats. Blackquarter was shown to be endemic in the area, affecting cattle, impala and eland Taurotragus oryx. Closely related wild ruminants could act as a source of helminth infection to domestic ruminants.