An epidemic of East Coast fever on a dairy farm in eastern Tanzania

During the period August-September 1995, an epidemic of East Coast fever oc curred at a dairy farm in Morogoro region of eastern Tanzania. Due to an in tensive dipping scheme since 1970, a very unstable endemic status had been established in the animals. A breakdown in the dipping scheme caused a majo r disease outbreak: the dip wash was not changed for 18 months prior to the outbreak and dipping continued in a dip wash of unknown strength. There wa s also a delay in detecting the disease at an early stage. In total, 180 ou t of 432 (42%) of the cattle at the farm died - resulting in a loss of Tshs . 26 330 000 (US$ 32 879). The attack risk was nearly 77%. The outbreak poi nts to the importance of adopting integrated strategies for the control of ticks and tickborne diseases. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.