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The die-offs were very location specific and individuals from
the same sub-population who grazed elsewhere suffered no mortality
event. Adult antelope died suddenly whilst grazing, and calves died
subsequently, apparently as a result of starvation.Acute pulmonary
oedema and emphysema (APE), or fog fever, results from sudden
expose to lush vegetation and is proposed as the cause of this die-
off due to the observed acute and pasture-related nature of the
mortality events.
One of the hypotheses is that an environmental factor triggered
the precipitation of a polymicrobial disease, primarily
haemorrhagic septicaemia caused by Pasteurella multocida serotype
B.
This study describes gross pathological findings obtained during
field investigations and tests if weather conditions preceding the
outbreaks acted as a common trigger. For this purpose, weather
conditions at different known die-off sites were compared with
those from unaffected sites, using meteorological data from
regional, ground-based weather stations.