Progress has been made with the development of a rabies vaccine for kudu in Namibia. The rich history of Namibia, formerly known as German Southwest, enhances the unique effort to find a solution to the problem. Rabies in kudu has increased significantly since the beginning of the year, highlighting a need for the development of an oral vaccine especially for the prevention of the deadly disease in kudu.

The determined search for an affordable way to protect the country’s kudu population against the disease initially tested an oral vaccine against rabies. This vaccine was tested on the fox population in Europe and the expectation was that it would also work for kudu.

Tests proved that the vaccine was indeed effective for the prevention of rabies in kudu, but it was found that the animals required high doses for sufficient immunity. However, administering the vaccine in the wild proved difficult, and the testing for this specific vaccine was discontinued at the end of 2022.

Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI)

The Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) on the island of Riems in Germany has developed a new vaccine specifically designed to address the rabies problem in Namibia.

FLI is the oldest virological research institution in the world. It was Steynestablished by Friedrich Loeffler in 1910 when Loeffler, a professor at the University of Greifswald, found that foot and mouth disease was caused by a virus and not a bacterium, as previously thought.

The research complex on Riems became the headquarters of the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute on the island of Riems in 1997, where the FLI focuses on farm animal health and welfare, and on the protection of humans from zoonoses, which refers to infections that can be transmitted from animals to humans. The research is defined in the Animal Health Act.

Among other animal diseases, the FLI does research and develop preventive and protective measures on, among others, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth disease, swine fever, avian influenza and rabies.
Armed with the FLI’s promising new solution, the Livestock Producers’ Association (LPO), which is affiliated with the Namibia Agricultural Union, decided to continue research for a suitable vaccine for the prevention of rabies in kudu.

A new contract has been established between the LPO and the University of Namibia for the fourth phase of the project that includes testing of the new vaccine.

Neudamm Campus

The initial trials will be conducted on goats at the Neudamm campus of the University of Namibia. This campus is situated about 30 km east of Windhoek and is the site where the first large dam was built in the country by Albert Voigts in 1904-1905. Neudamm translates to New Dam.

Albert Voigts from Meerdorf near Braunschweig in northern Germany travelled to South Africa In 1890 to take up a job offered by fellow-countryman Fritz Wecke, a merchant who traded with cattle in the Boer Republic of Transvaal. Soon after Albert, then 22 years old, joined him, he was sent to Damaraland in German West Africa, as the country was then called, with two ox wagons full of goods which he was to trade for cattle with the Herero people in Okahandja.

The first ox wagon trek nearly ended disastrous because of difficult conditions along the sandy thirst land, but Albert completed the task. The following year he and his brother Gustav again hauled goods to Damaraland. Together with Fritz Wecke, they established a trading station in Okahandja: Wecke & Voigts, a company steeped in tradition, which has continued to this day.

From 1906, Albert dedicated himself to farming on his farm Voigtsgrund and eventually became one of the pioneers of Karakul breeding in the country.

Testing at goat section

Today, the Campus accommodates over 200 students in four hostels on the campus that is predominantly pursuing studies in the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Neudamm farm is known for its production of top genetic breeding material of stud animals. The farming consists of four sections, including a large stock section that includes farming with Sanga, Afrikaner, and Simmentaller cattle breeds which are all registered as stud animals.

The small stock section manages breeds such as the Boer goat and Kalahari red, sheep breeds such as Swakara, Dorper, and Damara, also registered as stud animals, as well as the Arabier x Boer horse breed. The intensive section includes dairy (Friesian cows), piggery, and poultry. The agronomy section focuses on the production of vegetables. The handling facilities and the animals on the farm support teaching and research activities on the Campus.

If successful, further testing of the rabies vaccine on kudus will follow, indicating potential progress in combating the rabies threat to Namibia’s kudu population.

Rabies in Namibia

Rabies is caused by the Lyssavirus genus, of which rabies virus RABV is the prototype. Domestic dogs cause more than 95% of an estimated 59 000 human rabies deaths annually, with the highest incidence in Asia and Africa, where it is endemic.

During the first epidemic that occurred between 1977 to 1986, an estimated 50 000 kudu (20% of the population) died of rabies.

While subsistence farming dominates the communal land in the northern part of the country, most commercial farms are in the central and southern parts. Besides cattle farming, Namibia has more than two million head of game which attracts tourists and trophy hunters, and the game is sold as live animals or harvested for commercial meat production and on farm use.

It is therefore of the utmost importance to ensure that rabies in kudu does not spread. Due to the incidence of foot and mouth disease (FMD), a game and livestock-proof veterinary cordon fence was built in 1961/’62, which is still in place.

The area to the north of the fence is referred as the Northern Communal Areas (NCAs). The possibility of rabies spreading from the northern areas to the central and southern areas of the country has not been confirmed, but precautionary measures are desirable.

Between 2011 and 2017, rabies was detected in seventeen different wildlife species, mostly in kudu, followed by jackal, then eland. Domestic dogs, especially in the northern communal areas of the country, are believed to be the main carrier of the disease.

Other carnivores, including bat-eared foxes, aardwolf, African wild cat, African wild dog, and leopard were affected, as well as waterbuck, blue wildebeest, Kirk’s dik-dik, oryx, and roan antelope.

Most wildlife rabies cases were reported from freehold (commercial) farmland where cattle cases were also reported. Rabid jackals were confirmed in many parts of the country, but only sporadically from southern regions.
These jackals were found at watering sites where they attacked cattle near farm buildings. They also attacked other domestic animals and humans.

The greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), which occurs in woodland across Southern Africa, is particularly susceptible to the disease. Since kudu are more closely related to cattle than to other animals, it is an ongoing concern as rabies in kudu threatens the livelihoods of farmers in the NCAs as well as on commercial farms in the central and southern parts.

The disease is preventable by vaccination of domestic dogs, but the search for a vaccine that can be given directly to kudu is ongoing in the hope of eventually eliminating the disease. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system of mammals, including humans, and causes disease in the brain and ultimately death.

Notifiable disease

According to the Namibian Animal Health Act 1 of 2011, rabies is a notifiable disease and any animals that are suspected of having rabies must be reported to the Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) within the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry.

Symptoms

Animals with rabies may act strangely, with some acting aggressively and trying to bite you or drool excessively, while others may act timid and tame while moving slowly. Stay away, leave them alone and report the animal to the authorities.

Source references

By ox wagon through the arid Kalahari (2012). https://gondwana-collection.com/blog/by-ox-wagon-through-the-arid-kalahari

Steyn, T. (2024) Namibia: Rabies in kudu on the rise again. ProAgri. https://proagri.co.za/namibia-rabies-in-kudu-on-the-rise-again/

Welcome to Neudamm Campus. https://www.unam.edu.na/neudamm-campus