Abstract
ABSTRACTBackground: Snow leopards, Panthera uncia, are a threatened apex predator, scattered across the mountains of Central and South Asia. Disease threats to wild snow leopards have not been investigated.Methods and Results: Between 2008 and 2015, twenty snow leopards in the South Gobi desert of Mongolia were captured and immobilised for health screening and radio-collaring. Blood samples and external parasites were collected for pathogen analyses using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), microscopic agglutination test (MAT), and next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques. The animals showed no clinical signs of disease, however, serum antibodies to significant zoonotic pathogens were detected. These pathogens included, Coxiella burnetii, (25% prevalence), Leptospira spp., (20%), and Toxoplasma gondii (20%). Ticks collected from snow leopards contained potentially zoonotic bacteria from the genera Bacillus, Bacteroides, Campylobacter, Coxiella, Rickettsia, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus.Conclusions: The zoonotic pathogens identified in this study, in the short-term did not appear to cause illness in the snow leopards, but have caused illness in other wild felids. Therefore, surveillance for pathogens should be implemented to monitor for potential longer- term disease impacts on this snow leopard population.
Highlights
While the overall decrease in biodiversity is often attributed to environmental changes such as land clearing, habitat d estruction, feral pests and climate change, emerging infectious disease can act as a primary or contributory cause [1,2,3]
This study aimed to investigate important zoonotic pathogens that may impact the conservation of snow leopards in Mongolia
The Tost Mountains cover an area of approximately 1700 km2 and the population of snow leopards, estimated annually, was between 10–14 adults during our study [24]
Summary
While the overall decrease in biodiversity is often attributed to environmental changes such as land clearing, habitat d estruction, feral pests and climate change, emerging infectious disease can act as a primary or contributory cause [1,2,3]. There were no signs of trauma or starvation other potential causes of death included infectious diseases. Two of the dead snow leopards were radio-collared territorial males with no overlap in their home ranges, suggesting independent causes of death. The finding of these dead snow leopards prompted the initiation of this disease study. The animals showed no clinical signs of disease, serum antibodies to significant zoonotic pathogens were detected. These pathogens included, Coxiella burnetii, (25% prevalence), Leptospira spp., (20%), and Toxoplasma gondii (20%). Surveillance for pathogens should be implemented to monitor for potential longerterm disease impacts on this snow leopard population
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