Brucellatransmission from domestic and wild animals to dromedary camel: Diagnostic methods and zoonotic threats – A review

Simple SummaryCrimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a tick-borne and zoonotic emerging viral disease that is characterized by the sudden development of high fever and vascular bleeding in humans. The seroevidence among livestock has been reported, but it is less known in wild animals. Due to the importance and emerging state of the disease, we conducted a serosurvey on both domestic and wild animals in different areas of Turkiye. Serological investigations conducted on cattle, goats, and sheep revealed 10.81%, 15.15%, and 19.23% seropositivity, respectively, in the collected serum samples. We also found seropositivity rates in hare (23.81%) and wild boars (2.5%) indicating the substantial role of wild animals in virus epidemiology in Turkiye. This study provides first seroevidence of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever in wild animals in Turkiye. Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a zoonotic, tick-borne pathogen that is endemic to some parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The disease causes fever and hemorrhagic manifestations in humans but not in animals. Domestic and wild animals are asymptomatic hosts of CCHFV and are critical in the transmission cycle. Hyalomma marginatum spp. has been identified as the natural reservoir and vector of the virus in Turkiye. A few studies have been conducted on domesticated animals showing the seroprevalence of CCHFV in them, but seroevidence in wild animals is absent. For contributing this antrum to the understanding of virus transmission in Turkiye, we performed a seroprevalence investigation of CCHFV in both wild and domesticated animals in various geographical areas of Turkiye. In-house IgG iELISA was performed for the screening of sera IgG in a total of 582 animal samples collected from boar (n = 40), cattle (n = 259), goat (n = 132), hare (n = 21), and sheep (n = 130). Results from ELISA performed on domestic animals revealed 10.81%, 15.15%, and 19.23% anti-CCHF virus seropositivity in cattle, goats, and sheep, respectively, in collected serum samples. ELISA tests performed in wild animals showed 23.81% and 2.5% positivity in hare and wild boars, respectively, suggesting the importance of wild animals in CCHF virus epidemiology in Turkiye. This study performed the first serological investigation of CCHFV in wild animals and provided the first seroevidence of CCHFV in wild boars and hare in Turkiye.

Brucellosis is not a sustainable disease in humans. The source of human infection always resides in domestic or wild animal reservoirs. The routes of infection are multiple: food-borne, occupational or recreational, linked to travel and even to bioterrorism. New Brucella strains or species may emerge and existing Brucella species adapt to changing social, cultural, travel and agricultural environment. Brucella melitensis is the most important zoonotic agent, followed by Brucella abortus and Brucella suis. This correlates with the fact that worldwide, the control of bovine brucellosis (due to B. abortus) has been achieved to a greater extent than the control of sheep and goat brucellosis (due to B. melitensis), these latter species being the most important domestic animals in many developing countries. The long duration and high cost of treatment of human brucellosis reduces the efficacy of the therapy. There is no human vaccine for brucellosis and the occurrence of brucellosis is directly linked to the status of animal brucellosis in a region. In this context, the Word Health Organization has defined the development of a human vaccine, besides the implementation of control and eradication programs in animals, as a high priority. The pathogenicity for humans of B. suis biovars 1, 3 and 4 is well established, whereas B. suis biovar 2 seems to be less pathogenic. Indeed, although hunters and pig farmers have repeatably experienced infectious contact with B. suis biovar 2 (found in wild boar and outdoor-rearing pigs in Europe), isolation of B. suis biovar 2 from human samples have only been seldom reported. Marine mammal brucellosis, due to two new proposed Brucella species i.e. B. cetaceae and B. pinnipediae, represents a new zoonotic threat but the pathogenicity for humans of the different Brucella species found in cetaceans and pinnipeds still has to be clearly established.

Spotted fever group rickettsial infections are considered an emerging infectious disease in Sri Lanka. The present study examined the potential role of tick vectors carrying the infection from sylvatic reservoirs to humans via domesticated animals. Ticks infesting humans, dogs and wild animals were collected island-wide and were identified. Presence of spotted fever group rickettsia in the tick blood meal was determined using PCR in a sub-sample of ticks collected. A total of 30,933 ticks were collected from 30 different hosts and free living stages from the ground. The collection consisted of 25 tick species recording 12 species from humans, 19 from domesticated animals and 22 from wild animals. Of the total collection randomly selected a sub-sample of 80 ticks were used to identify rickettsia pathogens. This comprised of fifty ticks from 50 wild animals belonged to 15 species (wild boar, pangolin, porcupine, barking deer, star tortoise, mouse deer, samber, spotted deer, monkey, civet cat, bandicoot, elephant, fishing cat, rabbit, flying squirrel; and 20 ticks from 15 dogs especially from areas where spotted fever cases were reported and 10 ticks from 10 humans. Results showed that rickettsial infections were found in four tick species, Amblyomma testudinarium collected from a wild boar, Riphicephalus sanguineus from a dog, Amblyomma clypeolatum from a star tortoise and Amblyomma javanense from a pangolin. Except for A. javanense, other three tick species are generalists infesting humans as well as domestic and wild animals. There is a high potential that these infections can spread easily to humans via the domesticated animals. This is the first report of ticks infesting domesticated and wild animals carrying spotted fever rikettsia and it underscores the possibility of spread of infection from wild reservoirs to human in the animal/human health interface.

Mоnitoring the features of the episothology of the talk in scada district of Kherson region

Nowadays the intentional poisoning of domestic and wild animals is a crime in the European Union (EU), but as in the past the poison is still used in rural areas of a number of European countries to kill animals that were considered harmful for human activities. From January 2014 up until October 2020, the Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (LFT-FMV) has done the analytical detection of poisoning substances in 503 samples of wildlife and domestic animals and pesticides residues were found in 239 of the samples analyzed. In this retrospective study, toxicology results from domestic species (dog, cat, sheep, cows, and horses), wildlife species (red foxes, birds of prey, lynx, and wild boar), and food baits, are presented. During this period the samples analyzed at the LFT-FMV, were received from all over the country. Analytical detections were performed via solvent extraction followed by thin layer chromatography. Molluscicides (47%, n = 109) and Carbamates (24%, n = 57) were found to be the first category of pesticides involved in intoxications, in both domestic and wild animals, followed by rodenticides (13%, n = 30)—in this group second and third generation, were the most represented; Strychnine is the third (11%, n = 26) even though this pesticide has been banned in Portugal since 1988 and in the European Union since 2006 and finally Organophosphates (5%, n = 11) in the small number. This study allowed to realize that a great number of positive samples involved banned pesticides (i.e., Aldicarb and Strychnine) but, at the same time, many positives cases were due to the exposure to commercially available products (i.e., Methiocarb and Anticoagulant rodenticides). Also, it's possible to identify the areas where domestic species are the most affected (i.e., Setubal and Lisboa) and the areas where the wild animals are the mainly affected species (i.e., Faro, Castelo Branco, and Bragança).

Brucellosis is a neglected zoonosis, which not only endangers health of the people but also affects the development of animal husbandry, tourism and international trade as well as food safety. In the past two decades, great progress has been achieved in the prevention and control of both human and animal brucellosis, however, tremendous challenges still exists in the control and eradication of brucellosis, especially in the developing countries. In recent years, along with the increase of livestock breeding and animal or related product trade, human contacts with livestock has increased, resulting in the expansion of brucellosis endemic areas. In China, the brucellosis endemic areas are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia and adjacent provinces, which might be explained by a lot of reasons, such as the development of animal husbandry, emerging and re-emerging of brucellosis endemic area and the movement of infection sources and degree of paid-attention. This paper summarizes the current status and progress in brucellosis prevention/control and surveillance in China and puts forward suggestions for the future improvement.

Ticks infesting wild and domestic animals and humans of Sri Lanka with new host records

The zoonotic agent of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), Mycobacterium bovis, can be transmitted between domestic and wild animals, threatening wildlife populations and control programs for bTB in cattle. In Corsica, a French Mediterranean island where domestic and wild species have close interactions, bTB cases have been reported in cattle, pigs, and wild boar. Moreover, genotypes of M. bovis found in wild and domestic animals from the same area were identical. These data strongly suggest that wild and domestic animals are associated in an epidemiologic bTB-transmission cycle. More investigations are needed, not only to understand the role played by each species in order to implement appropriate control measures, but also to assess the risk of transmission to humans.

To describe brucellosis infectious as a zoonotic disease, which is caused by Brucella spp. Brucellosis is considered to be a major health and economic challenge in developing countries, including Iran. This study focuses on epidemiology human's and animal's brucellosis and disease control strategies. Test-and-slaughter technique and extensive livestock vaccination programs are used for eradication of brucellosis. Test-and-slaughter is a general policy in Middle Eastern countries to eradicate the disease. Under this program, the Rose Bengal plate test is used as a screening measure to identify the infected herd, whereas the complement fixation test is applied as a confirmatory test. The prevalence of bovine brucellosis in 2015–2016 ranged between 7.2 and 18.1% in Kuwait and Jordan and ranged between 3 and 3.1% in Iraq and Iran in 2012–2014. Prevalence of goat brucellosis ( Brucella melitensis ) was 3.5% in Iran in 2014. Test-and-slaughter is used in most of the countries where the prevalence rate of the disease does not exceed 2%. Since 1963, testing the vaccine efficacy in goats and sheep has proven that vaccination can decrease the epidemic rate of the disease from 45 to 1.8%. This study indicated the test-and-slaughter technique alone has not proven successful in the eradication of brucellosis in Iran, and animal vaccination is essential to the control and eradication of animal and human brucellosis.

Brucellosis is a significant zoonotic disease caused by intracellular, gram-negative bacteria from the genus Brucella. Although camels are classified as secondary hosts for Brucella species, they are among the most susceptible and vulnerable animals to brucellosis, particularly Brucella abortus (B. abortus) and Brucella melitensis (B. melitensis). The present study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of camel brucellosis as a zoonotic disease by determining the seroprevalence of brucellosis in both camels and humans, assessing potential risk factors (e.g., age, size, and location), and conducting molecular characterization of Brucella spp. associated with abortion in camels. The Rose Bengal Test (RBT), Antigen Rapid Brucella Antibody Test (ARBT), indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA), and complement fixation test (CFT) were used to detect brucellosis in both camels and humans. Additionally, a molecular method using polymerase chain reaction was used as a confirmatory technique. A total of 625 camel serum samples and 100 human serum samples were collected in sterile vacuum tubes from various camel farms and individuals across different localities in the Al Qassim region. Additionally, samples from 10 confirmed Brucella-infected camels (including the uterus and supramammary lymph nodes) were analyzed. The results indicated that the overall prevalence of brucellosis in camel sera was 9.72%, as determined by RBT, and 8.16%, as determined by ARBT. In contrast, the overall prevalence of brucellosis in human sera from febrile patients was found to be 17% via RBT. Notably, 57.98% of camel sera that tested positive for Brucella antibodies via RBT were also positive according to I-ELISA and CFT. Furthermore, 42.1%, 70.58%, and 47.05% of human sera that were positive for Brucella antibodies as determined by RBT were also positive according to I-ELISA and CFT, respectively. The highest seropositivity for camel brucellosis was observed in female camels, particularly in the Unaizah area of the Qassim region and among the Homr breed. The prevalence of human brucellosis was highest among females and individuals who consumed raw milk. At the molecular level, B. melitensis biovar 3 was detected in the examined tissues. In conclusion, intervention measures are vital for reducing brucellosis in humans and camels. Public awareness campaigns should highlight the importance of protective clothing when handling aborted she-camels and the need to boil or pasteurize milk. Additionally, studies should differentiate between vaccinated and nonvaccinated camels, and standardizing serological tests for diagnosing brucellosis should be prioritized.

Background and Aim:Domestic and wild animals are important reservoirs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This study aimed to isolate Escherichia coli from feces of domestic and wild animals at an agricultural land interface area of Salaphra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand, and study the phylogenic characteristics and antibiotic resistance in these isolates.Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional, descriptive study, we randomly collected ground feces from free-ranging wild animals (deer and elephants) and domestic animals (cattle and goats). All fecal samples were inoculated onto MacConkey agar plates, and lactose-fermenting colonies were identified as E. coli. Antibiotic susceptibility of the E. coli isolates was determined using the disc diffusion method. Polymerase chain reaction assays were used to detect antibiotic resistance and virulence genes.Results:We obtained 362 E. coli isolates from the collected fecal samples. The E. coli isolates were categorized into four phylogenetic groups according to the virulence genes (chuA, vjaA, and TspE4C2). Phylogenetic Group D was predominant in the deer (41.67%) and elephants (63.29%), whereas phylogenetic Group B1 was predominant in the cattle (62.31%), and phylogenetic Groups A (36.36%) and B2 (33.33%) were predominant in the goats. Antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed that most antibiotic-resistant E. coli were isolated from domestic goats (96.96%). Among the 362 E. coli isolates, 38 (10.5%) were resistant to at least one antibiotic, 21 (5.8%) were resistant to two antibiotics, and 6 (1.66%) were resistant to three or more antibiotics. Ampicillin (AMP) was the most common antibiotic (48.48%) to which the E. coli were resistant, followed by tetracycline (TET) (45.45%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (3.03%). One isolate from an elephant was resistant to five antibiotics: AMP, amoxicillin, sulfisoxazole, TET, and ciprofloxacin. Determination of antibiotic resistance genes confirmed that E. coli isolates carried antibiotic resistance genes associated with phenotypic resistance to antibiotics. Most antibiotic-resistant E. coli belonged to phylogenic Groups A and B1, and most non-resistant E. coli belonged to phylogenic Groups B2 and D.Conclusion:Monitoring E. coli isolates from wild and domestic animals showed that all four phylogenic groups of E. coli have developed antibiotic resistance and are potential sources of multidrug resistance. High levels of antibiotic resistance have been linked to domestic animals. Our results support strengthening surveillance to monitor the emergence and effects of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms in animals.

Tuberculosis (TB) transmission between wildlife and domestic animals is usually indirect when they share an interface or visit the same location at different times in order to use the same food and water resources. Preventing aggregation and subsequent contact between domestic and wild animals is a valuable and cheap tool for improving farm biosafety. This study was carried out in a beef cattle farm located in Asturias (Atlantic Spain). Wild boar (Sus scrofa) visited the farm facilities every night to feed in the farm’s calf feeders. Our aim was to design and test the efficacy of a selective feeder for calves that could hinder its use by wild boar. We analyzed the effectiveness of the design using camera trapping. Pictures showed a reduction of 97.8% and 56.3% in the number of wild boar accessing to the selective feeder and in the number of wild boar “around” it, respectively. Those data demonstrate that the selective feeder hindered the access of wild boar to the feed and therefore, reduced the feed-mediated indirect interspecies contacts. Biosecurity measures are promising, cheap, and cost-effective tools for preventing TB and other diseases.

Incidence and control of brucellosis in the Near East region

Epidemiology of human and animal brucellosis in Kenya: A One Health meta-regression and network analysis.

Evidence of natural transmission of group A rotavirus between domestic pigs and wild boars (Sus scrofa) in Japan