Serological survey of the wild boar (Sus scrofa) for tularaemia and brucellosis in South Moravia, Czech Republic

Sera of 204 wild boars (Sus scrofa), shot by hunters in the South-Moravian district of Břeclav during 19932001, were tested by microagglutination reaction using safranin-stained antigens of Francisella tularensis and Brucella abortus: 10.8% and 8.7% seroreactors, respectively, were detected. The highest (17%) prevalence of tularaemia antibodies was found in wild boars during 1993–1994 at the beginning of a widespread outbreak of tularaemia in South Moravia that started in 1994, a nonsignificantly lower (13%) seroprevalence in 1995–1996 during the continuing epizootic, whereas it decreased markedly to 3% in the years 1997–2001 during the disappearance of the epizootic. Brucella sp. antibodies were significantly most frequent (15%) in wild boars in the years 1995–1996. This Brucella seroreactivity has been attributed to B. suis biotype 2 (B. melitensis biovar Suis biotype 2 according to new nomenclature) infection, because B. abortus in both cattle and humans (Bang’s disease) was eradicated in the former Czechoslovakia in 1964. The hare brucellosis (B. suis biotype 2) has occurred in the Břeclav district in a number of natural foci revealing an increased activity since 1994.