septicemia

When given orally to mice with drug-resistant septicemia or pneumonia, lolamicin rescued 100% of the mice with septicemia and 70% of the mice with pneumonia, the team reported.

Now, new research published recently in Nature Communications points to a different culprit, at least for the Zimbabwe elephants—a bacterium not previously found in elephants of any species, called Bisgaard taxon 45, that causes a massive systemic blood infection called septicemia.

Bisgaard taxon 45 is related to another bacterium, called Pasteurella multocida, that can cause septicemia in cattle and was linked to the death of 200,000 endangered saiga antelope in Kazakhstan in 2015.

The examination revealed the elephants had enlarged livers and spleens, as well as internal bleeding in multiple organs—signs of septicemia.

It's possible environmental stressors, such as heat and lack of food and water, may have led Bisgaard taxon 45 to proliferate and cause the septicemia in the Zimbabwe elephants, says Foggin.