Diseases and Parasites
Spotted hyenas may contract brucellosis, rinderpest and anaplasmosis. They are vulnerable to Trypanosoma congolense, which is contracted by consuming already infected herbivores, rather than through direct infection from tsetse flies. It is known that adult spotted hyenas in the Serengeti have antibodies against rabies, canine herpes, canine brucella, canine parvovirus, feline calysi, leptospirosis, bovine brucella, rinderpest and anaplasmosis. During the canine distemper outbreak during 1993–1994, molecular studies indicated that the viruses isolated from hyenas and lions were more closely related to each other than to the closest canine distemper virus in dogs. Evidence of canine distemper in spotted hyenas has also been recorded in the Masai Mara. Exposure to rabies does not cause clinical symptoms or affect individual survival or longevity. Analyses of several hyena saliva samples showed that the species is unlikely to be a rabies vector, thus indicating that the species catches the disease from other animals rather than from intraspecifics. The microfilaria of Dipetalonema dracuneuloides have been recorded in spotted hyenas in northern Kenya. The species is known to carry at least three cestode species of the genus Taenia, none of which are harmful to humans. It also carries protozoan parasites of the genus Hepatozoon in the Serengeti, Kenya and South Africa. Spotted hyenas may act as hosts in the life-cycles of various parasites which start life in herbivores ; Taenia hyaenae and T. olnogojinae occur in hyenas in their adult phase. Trichinella spiralis are found as cysts in hyena muscles.
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