By Amy Thomas

Warren Garst

An Asian elephant.

Ominous headlines warning of the spread of infectious diseases like bird flu, ebola, tuberculosis (TB) and drug-resistant staph have recently become all too commonplace in the news. However, it may come as a surprise to many to learn that animals, including the endangered Asiatic elephant, are also at great risk from the menace of such diseases. 

Captive elephants have been infected with TB from humans. The disease has spread among captive elephant populations and it is feared that it could cross into wild populations of elephants, rhinos and other species, where diagnosis and treatment would become impossible. 

In 2006, Elephant Care International (ECI) and partners conducted a study of a group of 115 captive elephants in Nepal and found that a significant percentage tested positive for TB. This is especially disconcerting given that, according to ECI, one-fourth of the estimated 60,000 Asian elephants remaining on Earth are captive. The vast majority of these 15,000 elephants live in Asia, where they are used for work, ceremonies and eco-tourism. The close proximity to humans, the high prevalence of TB among humans in range countries, and the intermingling of captive and wild elephants in some areas make TB a grave threat to this endangered species. 

Transmission among humans and elephants is especially unnerving considering that more virulent and novel forms of TB, like multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), could potentially be shared. According to the American Lung Association, 4.3% of new human TB cases worldwide are now multi-drug resistant and an estimated 50% of these cases are fatal even when treatment is administered. An estimated 1.6 million human deaths were caused by TB infections in 2005 (source: World Health Organization).

ECI has set up the Nepal Elephant Healthcare and TB Surveillance Program to identify, isolate, treat and prevent additional TB cases, and to support affected humans who work with elephants. However, the spread of TB has occurred faster than originally expected: Two captive Nepalese elephants have died in the last two months and another elephant has displayed symptoms of TB infection.

HSI has offered to supply funds for the immediate treatment of the symptomatic elephant. Unfortunately, elephant TB treatment is expensive and funding is urgently needed to treat the additional elephants who are expected to be found infected once all 179 captive elephants in the program have been tested.   

HSI applauds the critical work that Elephant Care International is doing to protect both elephants and humans from potentially deadly TB infections. We encourage those interested to visit the Elephant Care International website, ElephantCare.org, to learn more about the organization's anti-TB program.