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Genetic diversity of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from birds in the world: A systematic review. Exp Parasitol 2023; 248:108480. [PMID: 36863682 DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2023.108480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 03/04/2023]
Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is one of the most important foodborne pathogens that infects a large number of vertebrate species and has a cosmopolitan distribution. Birds as intermediate hosts are very important in the life cycle of T. gondii and they can be a main source of infection for humans and felids, as well as other animals. Most species of birds feed from the ground and are the best indicator for soil contamination with T. gondii oocysts. Hence, T. gondii strains isolated from birds can represent different genotypes circulating in the environment and their main predators and consumers. The recent systematic review tries to represent the population structure of T. gondii in birds around the world. Six English language databases were searched from 1990 to 2020 to find the related studies and overall, 1275 isolates of T. gondii were separated from the analyzed samples in birds. The results of our study revealed that atypical genotypes were predominant (58.8%, 750 out of 1275). Types II, III, and I had less frequency with prevalence rates of 23.4%, 13.8%, and 2%, respectively. No isolates of Type I were reported from Africa. Summarizing ToxoDB genotypes circulating in birds around the world manifested that ToxoDB #2 was the most common (101/875), followed by ToxoDB #1 (80/875), and #3 (63/875). Totally, the results of our review represented the high genetic diversity of T. gondii with circulating non-clonal strains in birds from South and North America, while clonal parasites with low genetic diversity were predominant in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
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Bokaba RP, Dermauw V, Morar-Leather D, Dorny P, Neves L. Toxoplasma gondii in African Wildlife: A Systematic Review. Pathogens 2022; 11:pathogens11080868. [PMID: 36014989 PMCID: PMC9414955 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens11080868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite, which infects a wide variety of mammals and bird species globally. In large parts of the world, this parasite is relatively well documented in wildlife species, however, this topic is poorly documented in Africa. The current review systematically explores the presence and distribution of T. gondii in African wildlife species through a key word search in PubMed, Web of Science and CAB Direct. A total of 66 records were identified and included in the qualitative analysis, of which 19 records were retained for the quantitative synthesis. The presence of T. gondii was reported in a wide range of wildlife species, found in twelve countries, spread over the African continent. The retained records report a prevalence range of 6–100% in herbivores, 8–100% in omnivores and 14–100% in carnivores. In wild felines (cheetahs, leopards, and lions) a prevalence range of 33–100% was found. Reports from South Africa, and on the presence of T. gondii in lion were most common. Overall, the results indicate the scarcity of information on T. gondii in Africa and its circulation in wildlife. The lack of knowledge on the parasite in Africa, especially in areas at the human-livestock-wildlife interface, prevents us from understanding how prevalent it is on the continent, what strains are circulating in wildlife and what the most common routes of transmission are in the different habitats in Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Refilwe Philadelphia Bokaba
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, Pretoria 0110, South Africa; (D.M.-L.); (L.N.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Veronique Dermauw
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium; (V.D.); (P.D.)
| | - Darshana Morar-Leather
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, Pretoria 0110, South Africa; (D.M.-L.); (L.N.)
| | - Pierre Dorny
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium; (V.D.); (P.D.)
| | - Luis Neves
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, Pretoria 0110, South Africa; (D.M.-L.); (L.N.)
- Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo 3453, Mozambique
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Hubálek Z. Pathogenic microorganisms associated with gulls and terns (Laridae). JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.25225/jvb.21009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zdeněk Hubálek
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic; e-mail:
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First isolation and genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii strains from domestic animals in Tunisia. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9328. [PMID: 33927299 PMCID: PMC8085010 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88751-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The isolation and molecular typing of Toxoplasma gondii strains provide an essential basis for a better understanding of the parasite’s genetic diversity, determinants of its geographical distribution and associated risks to human health. In this study, we isolated and genetically characterized T. gondii strains from domestic animals in Southern and coastal area of Tunisia. Blood, hearts and/or brains were collected from 766 domestic animals (630 sheep and 136 free-range chickens). Strain isolation from these samples was performed using mouse bioassay and genotyping was carried out with a multiplex PCR technique using 15 microsatellite markers. Thirty viable strains of T. gondii were successfully isolated from tissues of sheep (19/142) and chickens (11/33). In addition, 3 strains could be successfully genotyped from animal tissues for which mouse bioassay was unsuccessful. A large predominance of type II strains (n = 29) was found in the sampled regions, followed by type III (n = 3) and, for the first time in Tunisia, a single isolate of Africa 4 lineage from a sheep. Analyses of population genetics showed the presence of a divergent population of type II lineage in Tunisia, supporting limited recent migrations of strains between Tunisia and other countries of the world.
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Antilles N, García-Bocanegra I, Alba-Casals A, López-Soria S, Pérez-Méndez N, Saco M, González-Solís J, Cerdà-Cuéllar M. Occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of zoonotic enteropathogens in gulls from southern Europe. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 763:143018. [PMID: 33158539 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. are the two most frequent zoonotic bacteria involved in human enteric infections in the European Union. Both enteropathogens have been isolated from a diversity of wild birds in Northern Europe, but there is limited information about gulls as potential reservoirs in Southern Europe. A broad sampling of fledglings from nine colonies of yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis, N = 1222) and Audouin's gull (Larus audouinii, N = 563) has been conducted in Spain and Tunisia during the late chick-rearing period. Overall, the occurrence of Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. was 5.2% (93/1785, CI95%: 4.2-6.2%) and 20.8% (371/1785, CI95%: 18.9-22.7%), respectively. The most predominant Campylobacter species was C. jejuni (94.6%). A high diversity of Salmonella serovars was isolated and the most frequent were those also reported in human outbreaks, such as Salmonella Typhimurium. A high proportion of Campylobacter and Salmonella isolates showed resistance to at least one antimicrobial agent (20.2% and 51.5%, respectively), while 19.2% of Salmonella isolates were multidrug-resistant. These results show the relevance of gulls as reservoirs of Campylobacter and Salmonella by maintaining and spreading these bacteria, including resistant and multidrug resistant strains, in the environment. Our results suggest that gulls can serve as sentinel species for antibiotic pressure in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noelia Antilles
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Ignacio García-Bocanegra
- Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Córdoba-Agrifood Excellence International Campus (ceiA3), 14071 Córdoba, Spain
| | - Ana Alba-Casals
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Sergio López-Soria
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Néstor Pérez-Méndez
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio) and Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Montse Saco
- Departament de Microbiologia, Laboratori Agroalimentari de Cabrils, Departament d'Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca i Alimentació, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jacob González-Solís
- Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio) and Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marta Cerdà-Cuéllar
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
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Chaudhary V, Wisely SM, Hernández FA, Hines JE, Nichols JD, Oli MK. A multi‐state occupancy modelling framework for robust estimation of disease prevalence in multi‐tissue disease systems. J Appl Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vratika Chaudhary
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation University of Florida Gainesville FL USA
| | - Samantha M. Wisely
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation University of Florida Gainesville FL USA
- School of Natural Resources and Environment University of Florida Gainesville FL USA
| | - Felipe A. Hernández
- Instituto de Medicina Preventiva VeterinariaFacultad de Ciencias VeterinariasEdificio Federico Saelzer Valdivia Chile
| | - James E. Hines
- U.S. Geological SurveyPatuxent Wildlife Research Center Beltsville MD USA
| | - James D. Nichols
- U.S. Geological SurveyPatuxent Wildlife Research Center Laurel MD USA
| | - Madan K. Oli
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation University of Florida Gainesville FL USA
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Gamble A, Garnier R, Chambert T, Gimenez O, Boulinier T. Next-generation serology: integrating cross-sectional and capture-recapture approaches to infer disease dynamics. Ecology 2020; 101:e02923. [PMID: 31655002 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2018] [Revised: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 09/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Two approaches have been classically used in disease ecology to estimate epidemiological parameters from field studies: cross-sectional sampling from unmarked individuals and longitudinal capture-recapture setups, which generally involve more limited numbers of marked individuals due to cost and logistical constraints. Although the benefits of longitudinal setups are increasingly acknowledged in the disease ecology community, cross-sectional data remain largely overrepresented in the literature, probably because of the inherent costs of longitudinal surveys. In this context, we used simulated data to compare the performances of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs to estimate the force of infection (i.e., the rate at which susceptible individuals become infected). Then, inspired from recent method developments in quantitative ecology, we explore the benefits of integrating both cross-sectional (seroprevalences) and longitudinal (individuals histories) data sets. In doing so, we investigate the effects of host species life history, antibody persistence, and degree of a priori knowledge and uncertainty on demographic and epidemiological parameters, as those are expected to affect in different ways the level of inference possible from the data. Our results highlight how those elements are important to consider in determining optimal sampling designs. In the case of long-lived species exposed to infectious agents resulting in persistent antibody responses, integrated designs are especially valuable as they benefit from the performances of longitudinal designs even with relatively small longitudinal sample sizes. As an illustration, we apply this approach to a combination of empirical and simulated data inspired from a case of bats exposed to a rabies virus. Overall, this work highlights that serology field studies could greatly benefit from the opportunity of integrating cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amandine Gamble
- CEFE, CNRS, University of Montpellier, EPHE, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, IRD, Montpellier, France.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 610 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, 90095-7239, USA
| | - Romain Garnier
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, Washington, 20057, USA
| | - Thierry Chambert
- CEFE, CNRS, University of Montpellier, EPHE, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Olivier Gimenez
- CEFE, CNRS, University of Montpellier, EPHE, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Thierry Boulinier
- CEFE, CNRS, University of Montpellier, EPHE, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, IRD, Montpellier, France
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Phillips RA, Kraev I, Lange S. Protein Deimination and Extracellular Vesicle Profiles in Antarctic Seabirds. BIOLOGY 2020; 9:E15. [PMID: 31936359 PMCID: PMC7168935 DOI: 10.3390/biology9010015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Pelagic seabirds are amongst the most threatened of all avian groups. They face a range of immunological challenges which seem destined to increase due to environmental changes in their breeding and foraging habitats, affecting prey resources and exposure to pollution and pathogens. Therefore, the identification of biomarkers for the assessment of their health status is of considerable importance. Peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) post-translationally convert arginine into citrulline in target proteins in an irreversible manner. PAD-mediated deimination can cause structural and functional changes in target proteins, allowing for protein moonlighting in physiological and pathophysiological processes. PADs furthermore contribute to the release of extracellular vesicles (EVs), which play important roles in cellular communication. In the present study, post-translationally deiminated protein and EV profiles of plasma were assessed in eight seabird species from the Antarctic, representing two avian orders: Procellariiformes (albatrosses and petrels) and Charadriiformes (waders, auks, gulls and skuas). We report some differences between the species assessed, with the narrowest EV profiles of 50-200 nm in the northern giant petrel Macronectes halli, and the highest abundance of larger 250-500 nm EVs in the brown skua Stercorarius antarcticus. The seabird EVs were positive for phylogenetically conserved EV markers and showed characteristic EV morphology. Post-translational deimination was identified in a range of key plasma proteins critical for immune response and metabolic pathways in three of the bird species under study; the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, south polar skua Stercorarius maccormicki and northern giant petrel. Some differences in Gene Ontology (GO) biological and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways for deiminated proteins were observed between these three species. This indicates that target proteins for deimination may differ, potentially contributing to a range of physiological functions relating to metabolism and immune response, as well as to key defence mechanisms. PAD protein homologues were identified in the seabird plasma by Western blotting via cross-reaction with human PAD antibodies, at an expected 75 kDa size. This is the first study to profile EVs and to identify deiminated proteins as putative novel plasma biomarkers in Antarctic seabirds. These biomarkers may be further refined to become useful indicators of physiological and immunological status in seabirds-many of which are globally threatened.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard A. Phillips
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK;
| | - Igor Kraev
- Electron Microscopy Suite, Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK;
| | - Sigrun Lange
- Tissue Architecture and Regeneration Research Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London W1W 6UW, UK
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Paştiu AI, Cozma-Petruț A, Mercier A, Balea A, Galal L, Mircean V, Pusta DL, Bogdan L, Györke A. Prevalence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii in naturally infected backyard pigs intended for familial consumption in Romania. Parasit Vectors 2019; 12:586. [PMID: 31842955 PMCID: PMC6915976 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-019-3842-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Accepted: 12/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Foodborne toxoplasmosis in humans can be due to the exposure to tissue cysts of Toxoplasma gondii through the consumption of meat, including pork, of infected animals. Traditional Romanian food habits include pork as the preferred meat, while backyard pig rearing remains a common practice in many rural areas of Romania. The aims of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of T. gondii infection in naturally infected backyard pigs slaughtered for familial consumption and to genetically characterize the T. gondii strains obtained. METHODS Paired blood and heart samples were collected from 94 backyard pigs, home slaughtered for private consumption. Serum samples were analyzed using the immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) for anti-T. gondii antibody detection. Heart samples were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the 529-bp repeat region (REP529) for T. gondii detection. In addition, heart samples from IFAT positive animals were bioassayed in mice. The T. gondii isolates were genotyped by the analysis of 15 microsatellite markers. RESULTS The results showed that almost half of the pigs investigated were T. gondii seropositive (46.8%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 36.4-57.4%) and in more than a quarter of the pigs (26.6%, 95% CI: 18.0-36.7%), the parasite was detected by PCR. Three (3/44) T. gondii strains were isolated from hearts of seropositive pigs and they all belonged to genotype II. CONCLUSIONS The present study showed the presence of T. gondii infection in backyard pigs in Romania, which suggests that consumption of pork from animals reared and slaughtered at home may pose a potential threat to human health and should be given attention. In addition, to our knowledge, this is the first study to provide data concerning T. gondii strains circulating in pigs from Romania.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anamaria Ioana Paştiu
- Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
- Department of Genetics and Hereditary Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
| | - Anamaria Cozma-Petruț
- Department of Bromatology, Hygiene, Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6 Pasteur Street, 400349 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
| | - Aurélien Mercier
- INSERM UMR_S 1094, Neuroépidémiologie Tropicale, Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Limoges, Limoges, France
- Centre National de Référence Toxoplasmose/Toxoplasma Biological Resource Center, CHU Limoges, 2 Martin Luther King Street, 87042 Limoges, France
| | - Anamaria Balea
- Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
| | - Lokman Galal
- INSERM UMR_S 1094, Neuroépidémiologie Tropicale, Laboratoire de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Limoges, Limoges, France
- Centre National de Référence Toxoplasmose/Toxoplasma Biological Resource Center, CHU Limoges, 2 Martin Luther King Street, 87042 Limoges, France
| | - Viorica Mircean
- Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
| | - Dana Liana Pusta
- Department of Genetics and Hereditary Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
| | - Liviu Bogdan
- Department of Reproduction, Obstetrics and Pathology of Animal Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
| | - Adriana Györke
- Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Calea Mănăştur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj Romania
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Navarro J, Grémillet D, Afán I, Miranda F, Bouten W, Forero MG, Figuerola J. Pathogen transmission risk by opportunistic gulls moving across human landscapes. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10659. [PMID: 31337777 PMCID: PMC6650491 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46326-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Wildlife that exploit human-made habitats hosts and spreads bacterial pathogens. This shapes the epidemiology of infectious diseases and facilitates pathogen spill-over between wildlife and humans. This is a global problem, yet little is known about the dissemination potential of pathogen-infected animals. By combining molecular pathogen diagnosis with GPS tracking of pathogen-infected gulls, we show how this knowledge gap could be filled at regional scales. Specifically, we generated pathogen risk maps of Salmonella, Campylobacter and Chlamydia based on the spatial movements of pathogen-infected yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis) equipped with GPS recorders. Also, crossing this spatial information with habitat information, we identified critical habitats for the potential transmission of these bacteria in southern Europe. The use of human-made habitats by infected-gulls could potentially increase the potential risk of direct and indirect bidirectional transmission of pathogens between humans and wildlife. Our findings show that pathogen-infected wildlife equipped with GPS recorders can provide accurate information on the spatial spread risk for zoonotic bacteria. Integration of GPS-tracking with classical epidemiological approaches may help to improve zoonosis surveillance and control programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan Navarro
- Institut de Ciències del Mar - CSIC, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - David Grémillet
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, Montpellier, France
- FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Isabel Afán
- Estación Biológica de Doñana - CSIC, Sevilla, Spain
| | | | - Willem Bouten
- Computational Geo-Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Jordi Figuerola
- Estación Biológica de Doñana - CSIC, Sevilla, Spain
- CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBER-ESP), Sevilla, Spain
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Serological and Molecular Investigation on Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Wild Birds. Pathogens 2019; 8:pathogens8020058. [PMID: 31035730 PMCID: PMC6630207 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens8020058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2019] [Revised: 04/19/2019] [Accepted: 04/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate apicomplexan zoonotic parasite that infects humans and other animals and is responsible for toxoplasmosis. This parasite causes one of the most common parasitic infections in humans worldwide. Toxoplasmosis meets the requirements for a One Health Disease due to its ability to affect the health of human beings as well as domestic and free ranging animals. Integrating human, domestic animal, and wildlife data could better assess the risk and devise methods of control. A first step of such an approach would be the knowledge of the prevalence of parasitosis in humans and animals in selected areas. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of Toxoplasma infection in 216 free ranging birds belonging to different genera/species by serology and molecular techniques. Twenty-five out of 216 animals (11.6%) were positive to the immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) with antibody titers ranging from 1/20 to 1/320, and 19 of them (8.8%) also showed a positive PCR for Toxoplasma DNA. The results confirmed the widespread occurrence of Toxoplasma infection in wild birds and serological data were corroborated by molecular results in birds that also had low antibody titers. The knowledge of the wide occurrence of the parasite in game and wild birds should enhance the accurate estimation of the risks in handling, managing, and eating these species with regard to domestic carnivores as well as the impact of viscera and offal in the environment.
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