Rhinos in Kenya face a new threat: drug-resistant bacteria

Bacteria samples found in the endangered animals had developed alarming levels of antibiotic resistance

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  A trio of white rhinoceros grazing at Ol-Pejeta conservancy at Laikipia's county headquarters, Nanyuki. - Ol-Pejeta, a private conservancy on Kenya's Laikipia plateau that shelters, among other endangered giants, the only two northern white rhinos left anywhere on earth, launched what it calls the world's first wildlife tech lab, that develops the latest technological weaponry to combat poaching. AFP

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  A family of White-Rhinos is seen on August 7, 2014 at the Ol Jogi rhino sanctuary, in the Laikipia county, approximately 300 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. AFP

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  A southern-white female rhino with her calf roam the ol-Pejeta conservancy on June 14, 2015 situated at the foot of Mt. Kenya approximately 300 kilometres north of Kenyan capital, Nairobi. AFP

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  Najin (L) and Fatu, the only two remaining female northern white rhinos graze in their paddock on March 20, 2018 at the ol-Pejeta conservancy in Nanyuki, north of capital Nairobi. AFP

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  Fatu (background), 19, and her mother Najin, 30, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, graze in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. AFP

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  Maasai warriors pose with Sudan, the only male of the last three northern white rhino sub-species on the planet, on June 18, 2017 following a charity cricket match played in the wilds of Laikipia county's Ol-Pejeta Conservancy, at the foot of Mount Kenya, and home to the last three northern white rhino sub-species on the planet. The two-day tournament dubbed 'Last Male Standing' is an annual charity event that aims to raise awareness of the plight of the nothern-white rhino and creates funding to continue ongoing research into ways to save the sub-species from extinction. AFP

The mighty rhinos living in a national park in Kenya face a new threat: microscopic, drug-resistant bacteria.

Scientists behind a study in a recent issue of the academic journal EcoHealth discovered that bacteria samples found in the endangered animals in Ruma National Park, a protected area on the shores of Lake Victoria, had developed alarming levels of antibiotic resistance.

The rhinos appear to have become unexpected casualties of global overuse of the drugs.

Resistance to them is growing because people take the drugs for non-bacterial diseases; don’t finish drug courses, allowing bacteria to recover and adapt; and because many farmers overuse the medicines on livestock.

Antibiotic use and abuse in Kenya has been rampant for decades, elevating levels of drug-resistant bacteria in people, livestock and now wildlife.

The team of scientists, which included Maseno University doctorate student Collins Kipkorir Kebenei, used fecal samples to study resistance levels in the bacteria found in 16 black rhinos.

They isolated samples of E. coli in both rhino and human waste and studied how resistant they were to eight of the most commonly used antibiotics: ampicillin, gentamicin, tetracycline, cotrimoxazole, chloramphenicol, ceftriaxone, amoxycillin/clavulanic acid and erythromycin.

Resistance levels in the bacteria found in rhinos and that found in humans were comparable for four of the antibiotics. The bacteria in rhinos was more resistant than that in humans for two of them.

That’s a problem because rhinos – already under threat from poaching – are susceptible to the bacterial disease bovine tuberculosis, researchers in South Africa’s Kruger National Park have found.

Antibiotic resistance could make treatment harder.

“If they are sick, they need to be treated – and so what kind of medication can be used on these animals?” Kebenei said in the university lab, as his adviser and co-author, zoology professor Patrick Onyango, looked on.

Rhinos are already critically endangered. Only about 29,000 remain alive, says the International Rhino Foundation. About 5 per cent of them are in Kenya.

It’s unclear how the rhinos are being exposed to the drug-resistant bacteria. It could be through drinking at the Lambwe River, which runs through Ruma National Park and carries waste containing antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Or it could be through contact with the rangers protecting them from poachers.

Onyango said that although attention was focused on poaching, antibiotic resistant infections are a new and insidious threat.

“There are people who are hawking antibiotics in bus stations,” said David Onyango, a lecturer in Maseno University’s zoology department who co-authored the study. “There is no proper policy and regulation on their use.”