Infections shared with wildlife: an updated perspective

Abstract

Infections shared with wildlife matter because many are zoonotic, because of their impact on animal health and in consequence on livestock production, and due to their adverse effects on conservation and on the sustainable use of wildlife. We describe recent environmental and societal changes that contribute to explain the current wildlife disease scenario, propose an updated list and ranking of relevant shared disease agents, illustrate key risk factors which often underlay shared infections, and provide a summary of recent progress in wildlife monitoring and disease control. We conclude, first, that there is a need for a better understanding of population dynamics and for good baseline data on wildlife population trends. Also, there is a need to adapt our wildlife management and disease control strategies to a context of growing conflicts and increasing social complexity. Second, a few pathogens appear consistently in the rankings of relevant shared diseases and tend to receive most attention from the scientific community. However, most current research on wildlife diseases is still descriptive. Therefore, a deeper understanding of disease ecology and progress in risk factor identification is needed. Third, interventions regarding wildlife diseases are rarely widespread and not necessarily successful, and three aspects need urgent regulation in order to improve wildlife health: wildlife feeding, disease control in farmed or translocated wildlife, and hunting offal disposal. While the drivers of disease emergence are still active, awareness is also growing in governmental and supra-governmental agencies, farmers, and the academy, contributing to create a fertile ground for future innovative disease control efforts.