RABIES AMONG AFRICAN WILD DOGS (LYCAON-PICTUS) IN THE MASAI-MARA, KENYA

A pack of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) ranging to the north of th e Masai Mara National Reserve in southwestern Kenya was monitored from 1988 to 1989. During a 6-week period (August 1-September 13, 1989), 2 1 of 23 members of this pack died. Seven carcasses were retrieved, of which 4 were suitable for necropsy and hislopathologic examination. Gr oss findings varied among individuals and included multiple bite wound s, synovitis, lymphadenopathy, submandibular, cervical, and vocal cord edema, blood in bronchi, bronchioles, stomach, and intestine, and ant erioventral lung Lobe consolidation. Histologic examination of 2 avail able brain samples revealed nonsuppurative encephalitis with eosinophi lic intracytoplasmic inclusions (Negri bodies). An additional brain sa mple tested positive for rabies via a fluorescent antibody test. Other histologic features included severe suppurative bronchopneumonia, myo carditis, and lymphoid depletion of the lymph nodes, tonsils, and sple en. A 304-base pair (bp) nucleotide sequence from the N gene and a 310 -bp sequence from the G gene from rabies isolates of 4 wild dogs indic ated that infection was with a rabies variant common among domestic do gs in Kenya and Tanzania.